MUNICH

Screenplay by
Tony Kushner and Eric Roth

Based on the Book "Vengeance" by George Jonas

1 EXT. OLYMPIC STADIUM, MUNICE - NIGHT (NEP STADIUM) 7

The Munich flag is flying over the stadium. Past the flag,
in a distance, the fence that encloses the Olympic Village.
In the dark outside the Village, a group of eight men in
track suits, carrying heavy duffel bags, are silently,
rapidly moving towards the perimeter fence.

i OMITTED 2

3 EXT. OUTSIDE A PERIMETER FENCE OF THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE, MUNICSI

- EARLY MORNING, 4AM (NEP STADIUM)
Paolo, the first of 8 fedayeen, dressed as athletes in track
suits, carrying duffel bags, are climbing over the wire
fence.
A group of American athletes, happy and drunk, comes ambling
down the sidewalk towards the Palestinians,laughing, trying
to be quiet. The Palestinians freeze, looking at one another,
alarmed; one of their number is halfway over the fence. Tony
starts to unzip his duffel bag, ready to go for his gun.
Issa stops him, saying something softly in Arabic. The
Americans gather around the Palestinians.
AMERICAN ATElJ?TE (CASTING TBD)
Aw shame shame ! Closin' down the
biergarten! Hundred meter dash
powered by knockwurst and lager!
Issa smiles at him, shrugs to indicate he doesn't understand.
AMERICAN ATHLETE (CASTING TBD)
Where you guys from? What's your
event?
AMERICAN ATHLETE (CASTING TBD)
He doesn't speak English, man.
Let's help 'em over.
The athlete squats, cups his hands, indicates that he'll give
Issa a boost over the fence. Issa indicates to one of his
men to take the offer. The Americans cheerfully help the
Palestinians climb over the fence, handing them their duffel
bags.
Over the fence, the Americans and Palestinians shake hands
and the Americans walk off toward their building. The
Palestinians are surprised and amused, and also very nervous.
EXT. AN ALLEY BETWEEN TWO BUILDINGS NEAR THE FENCE, OLYMPIGA
VILLAGE, MUNICH - E X G Y MORNING, 4AM (NE? STADIUM)
The fedayeen are taking off their tracks suits, revealing
ordinary clothes underneath.

The Palestinians walk as a group through the sleeping

Village, down an avenue of modern apartment buildings. They
arrive at 31 Connollystrasse and stop.
They enter the building.

INT. THE HALLWAY OUTSIDE APARTMENT 1, 31 CONNOLLYSTRASSE - 5

EARLY MORNING, AM (STAGE/ICE RINK)
The Palestinians are silently removing their rifles from
their duffel bags.
One by one we see them put stockrng masks over their heads.
They all look-scared; some are eager, some lust scared. They
look at each other once the masks are on, grvrng each other
courage.
A close-up on Issa's face, serious and intelligent; his eyes.
Issa motions to the others to be ready. He slowly inserts a
passkey into the lock of the door of the apartment. He turns
the key as quietly as he can. Very gently and slowly he
begins to open the door.

INT. INSIDE APARTMENT 1, FRONT BEDROOM, 31 CONNOLLYSTRASSE -6

EARLY MORNING, 4AM (STAGE ICE/RINK)
On the other side of the door, Yossef Gutfreund, a wrestling
referee, sees that the door is being opened by a man wearing
a mask. He sees the glint of light on a machine gun barrel.
He shouts to wake up the others. Then he hurls himself
against the door. Someone on the other side manages to shove
the barrel of an AK-47 in the way before the door can close.
Guttfreund is struggling mightily against eight men to hold
the door closed
Behind him, Tuvia Sokolovsky leaps up, breaks the glass in a
window and starts to crawl out.
Down the hall in another bedroom, Moshe Weinberg, the
wrestling coach, half-asleep in shorts and a t-shirt, is seen
scrambling out of bed.
 He turns into the apartment to scream out a warning to the
other athletes
TV SCREEN:

7 ISRAELI BROADCASTING AUTHORITY'S SPECIAL MUNICH COVERAGE 7

Black-and-white, the Israeli anchor sitting at a strange
angle in front of an aerial shot of the Olympic Stadium:
ISRAELI NEWS ANCHOR
Good morning from Munich. 36 Years
have passed since Jewish blood was
spilled. The blood of 6 million.
This morning Germany absorbed the
blood of one or two of the Israeli
delegation to the Olympics.

7A INT. AN APARTMENT IN TEL AVIV - BARELY DAWN 7A

General Zvi Zamir is struggling out of his pajamas while
watching television. His wife is in her bathrobe, crying.
several IDF officers are standing behind them, waiting.
ISRAELI NEWS ANCHOR (V.O.)
There is great uncertainty about
how many Israelis are being held
hostage in the apartment at 31
Connollystrasse in the Olympic
Village.
Moshe Weinberg, the weight-lifting
coach, was reportedly shot twice in
the head, once in the stomach, and
then dragged outside, where he
died.
CUT TO TV
SCREEN :

7B A BBC REPORTER IS STANDING NEAR TFiE BUILDING IN THE OLYMPIUB

VILLAGE IN WHICH THE ATHLETES ARE BEING HELD.
BBC WORLD NEWS REPORTER
-- and it now appears that this
group, calling itself Black
September, has tossed a piece of
paper out the window of the
apartment, a list of demands --
CUT TO:
 (NOTE: ISSA'S FACE IS BLACKENED WITH SHOEPOLISH IN THIS STOCK
FOOTAGE, SO KE SHOULD HAVE A BLACKENED FACE IN FUTURE
SCENES. )

8 EXT. A BAR ON A STFEET IN HAIFA - EARLY MORNING 8

The bar has opened its doors and a television sec is propped
up on a table. A large crowd of Israelis, men, women,
schoolkids, secular and religious people, a few Arab-
Israelis, have gathered around.
BBC WORLD NEWS REPORTER (V.O.)
They want what they call "the
Israeli war machine" to release 200
Arabs in ~sraeliprisons which it
insists are political prisoners,
held without trial, or the hostages
will be killed. The terrorist
communique ends with an appeal for
"revolutionaries of the world to
unite. "
. .
8A INT. IN GOLDA MEIR'S HOUSE -- 'EARLY MORNING 8A
Golda in the dark. in silhouette. recoonizable onlv bv her
profile and the frizzy hair, in
and cigarette, watching.
a housecoat, cup o? cbffee

A German reporter, who can be seen standing near the BBC

reporter.
GERMAN REPORTER (IN GERMAN, SUBTITLED
IN ARABIC)
The deadline for the release of the
Palestinian prisoners is only two
and a half hours from now.
The governor of the state of
Bavaria and the FDR Minister of the
Interior are working to arrange a
meeting with Issa, the head of the
Black September group --

9 OMIT

9A OMITTED
 INT. A COMMON ROOM SOMEWHERE IN THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE - EARLIlO
AFTERNOON (NEP STADIUM)
Olympic athletes from around the world are watching the
German Kinister of the Interior doing a press conference.
Camera crews and individual photographers are filming them
watching TV. Journalists from the USA, Spain and Italy are
interviewing athletes from USSR (Z), USA, Mexico, Japan,
Sweden and Kenya. There's a murmur of translation into many
languages.
MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR (GERMAN)
The peace of the Olympics games has
been shattered by a murderous band
of criminal terrorists. The whole
world views this deplorable deed
with disgust.
CUT TO:

~ O A INT. UPSTAIRS APARTMENT ONE FRONT ROOM AT 31 C O N N O L L Y S T R A ~-

- AFTERNOON (STAGE ICE/RINK)
-
"

All nine athletes are sitting on the floor, bound at the

wrists and feet and to one another in groups of 3. The
fedayeen stand around, holding onto their AK47s.
Two of the fedayeen have been hurt: Salah(aka Afif Ahmed
Hamid) has a bloody bandage wrapped around his head-- there's
a knife wound in his forehead. The left side of Badran's
face is a swollen gory mess, a punch having cut him and
knocked out teeth.
The television is on. Everyone's watching Paolo pull a
stocking mask over his head, pick up his gun and step out of
the room onto the balcony.
They watch him through the window, leaning over the balcony
railing. His image simultaneously appears on TV. One of the
fedayeen, Tony, notices the TV, nudges Abu-Halah, who looks
at the TV. Then Tony turns to one of the athletes:
TONY (IN HEBREW:)
Everyone's watching. Everyone in
the world.
The athletes also turn from watching out the balcony to
watching the image on TV.
(PLAYBACK -- STOCK FOOTAGE)
1: INT. A SMALL CINDERBLOCK HOUSE IN AIDA REFUGEE CAMP OUTSIDfil
BETHLEHEM -- A_.FTERNOON
A large group of Palestinian woman are crowded in front of a
teievision. There's no sound.

1IA CUT TO TV SCREEN: 11A

In silence, the famous footage of the man -- Paolo -- on the
balcony, bending to look down and around, wearing the
stocking mask.
CUT BACK TO:

11 CONTlWI?. TXE HOUSE IN AIDA REFUGEE CAMP - AFTERNOON 11 CONT'D.

The women, watching, are discussing in murmurs what they see:
On their TV, the same footage of Paulo on the balcony. Some
of the women are shaking their heads in disbelief, some are
smillng.

11B CUT BACK TO TV SCREEN: 11B

The footage of Paulo again. He looks over the balcony and
then he goes inside. Over this, Jim McKay's voice, with
Spanish and Arabic subtitling.
JIM MCKAY (V.O.)
See the man with the stocking
mask ... weird... does it mean "all
.
right" or "it's all over.. come
and get us?"

llBB INT. UPSTAIRS APARTMENT ONE FRONT ROOM AT 31 CONNOLLYSTRASEB -

AFTERNOON (STAGE/ICE RINK)
All nine athletes and Issa, Tony, Abu Hallah, Kader, Badran
and Salah are watching television:
CUT TO TV:
Paolo leaves the balcony.
JIM MCKAY (V.0. )
(with German subtit1ing:j
This is Live, this is happening
now...
CUT BACK TO:
 In the room: While everyone's watching Paolo on TV step off
the balcony, the actual Paoio steps off the balcony and back
into the apartment.

11BBE INT. A MEDIA HQ ABOVE A STADIUM - AFTERNOON (NE? STADIUMPBBE

In the stadium, hordes of Olympic officials and
groundskeepers in blue blazers and uniforms are running
about, conferring with clipboards, wielding brooms and
maintenance equipment, tidying, working to get the games
restarted, their behavior and demeanor bizarrely bright and
energetic.
The staff in the media HQ is watching this going on, quietly
discussing the action on the field, while behind them, on the
TV monitors, footage of crowds assembled outside the Olympic
village, protesting the games going on during the crisis.
over this a BBC reporter is talking:
BBC WORLD NEWS REPORTER (V.O.)
Prune Minister Golda Mexr, holding
fast to her government's policy of
refusmg to negotxate wlth the
terrosists,says that no Israells
anywhere on earth wlll be safe if
she gxves in. Though one suspects
there must be tremendous pressure
to do so from the fanulles of the
captlve men who --
11C INT. SECURITY ROOM IN THE OLYMPICS VILLAGE (NEP STADIUM) 11C
The Munich police are suiting up for the raid, putting on
bulky kevlar vests and then track suits on top of them,
checking anuno and assault rifles, putting these in sports
bags, and watching the coverage all the while.
CUT TO TV
SCREEN :
Footage of crowds at the Olympics stadium, track and field
events going on.
 GERMAN BROADCASTER (V.O.)
-- we're confirming now the
International Olympic Committee's
decision not to cancel the
competition, to allow the Games to
continue, only a few hundred yards
from where this deadly standoff is
taking place, now that the noon
deadline has been shifted to 5PM
and --

11D INT. TilE MEDIA HQ - AFTERNOON (NEP STmIUM) 1ID

Through the window of the media building, a crew is trying to
focus a camera with a zoom lens on police activity across the
street. Two producers are watching one of the several TV
monitors :
CUT TO TV
SCREEN :
ABC News desk, Jim McKay:
JIM MCKAY
And can you tell us what you're
seeing now, Peter?
The picture switches to footage of the Munich police dressed
in a weird amalgam of athletic clothing, storm-trooper
helmets, guns in gym bags, running about, scaling the roof.
PETER JENNINGS (V.O.)
Yes Jim, it's, well, that man is
carrying a bag which obviously
holds a large gun, and... These are
Munich police officers who are
preparing to wage an assault on the
building as the 5PM deadline
approaches, it's now 4:46 Jim and --

12 INT. UPSTAIRS AF'ARTMENT 1 (FRONT ROOM), 31 CONNOLLYSTRASSE 1-2

AFTERNOON (STAGE/ICE RINK)
The room's a mess, food and cigarettes and a barricaded door.
AK-47s are propped on furniture. Several young Palestinian
men are watching TV, discussing what they're seeing:
On the screen, the police are filmed crouching/running across
the roof, and scaling the first and second floor balconies.
 The Palestinians in the apartment are arguing quietly,
urgently about what to do, pointing at the tiny figures on
the screen, getting their guns ready for battle.
TONY (IN ARABIC:)
It's going to happen, they're
coming in.
S A W i (IN ARABIC:)
We warned them, we said what would
happen if there's any attempt, so
maybe we have to do it.
ABU-HALAH(1N ARABIC: )
It's just a show, it's just a
fucking display, to show that
they're tough, they won't risk it,
don't panic.
TONY (IN ARABIC:)
Go talk to them, go tell them to
get back or something bad will
happen.
',, .ANOTHER GERMAN REPORTER (GERMAN V.O. )
This assault on the building
certainly seems rather disorganized
and dangerous, and, and is
apparently being televised, and one
wonders if the Palestinians and
their hostages inside are watching.
Issa, the leader, his face blackened with shoe polish, leaves
the room.

13 INT. THE HALLWAY OUTSIDE THE APARTMENT, 31 CONNOLLYSTRASSE1-3

LATE AFTERNOON (STAGE/ICE RINK)
Issa pauses for a moment, collecting himself, then walks down
the hallway towards the exit, angry, unafraid.

A13A INT. SECURITY ROOM IN THE OLYMPICS VILLAGE (NEP STADIUM)A13A

The same room as in scene 1 1 C . The police are returning from
the now-cancelled raid. They enter and throw down their
weapons and gear on a table, furious, humiliated, disgusted.
The television is playing:
CUT TO TV
SCREEN :
 Issa is standing with the German officials, engaged in
discussion.
..
GERMAN REPORTER (V 0 )
-- when the leader of the fedayeen
came out of the building and
demanded that they call off the
siege, pointing out that the entire
operation was being watched on the
television set within the
apartment.
CUT BACK TO:

In the security room, the policemen have gathered, watching

the TV, muttering, still very angry, disgusted at having been
called off.
CUT BACK TO W :
GERMAN REPORTER (V.O.)
Apparently new demands have been
made to move the fedayeen and their
hostages, though it isn't yet known
where or when this might occur. . . , , ,

@ 1% EXT. THE UNDERGROUND PARKING GARAGE AT 31 CONNOLLYSTR~SSEI~A

EVENING (NEP STADIUM)
A lone 16MM video camera, a crew of two people and a single
flash photographer are filming and snapping shots of the
scene unfolding at the far end of the garage:
A green bus is waiting, idling. The nine athletes,
blindfolded and bound to one another, facing out encircling
their captors, are walking carefully to the door of the bus.
This event is partly obscured from the camera by a crowd of
police and government officials who are standing in between
their distant perch and the events unfolding by the bus.
No one is speaking. The echoing garage is scarily quiet.
The hostages and all eight fedayeen are on the bus. The bus
begins to roils towards the exit.
CUT TO:
 Inside the media HQ, a bank of television monitors, each with
an on- or off-camera reporter speaking in a different
language. The monitors are showing the bus leaving the
garage and heading down Connollystrasse. The night footage on
every monitor is grainy, chaotic and obscure.
ENGLISH REPORTER GERMAN REPORTER
They're moving slowly towards This is our first glimpse of
the bus, obviously wary of an the hostages since this
assault from the German morning, it's hard to see
police who are standing at a anything in the dim light of
distance, as instructed ... the garage and -- The
terrorists are hiding within
the circle of their captives,
using them as shields ...
FRENCH REPORTER SPANISH REPORTER
The fedayeen are still We're being kept at a
heavily armed, the Israeli distance by the authorities
athletes bound and who have promised the
blindfolded and they seem terrorists a safe and quick
dazed and uncertain. No one getaway out of the garage and
is clear about where they're away from this building
being taken but it's assumed that's now become famous the
to be an airport nearby. world over...
ISRAELI REPORTER ARAB REPORTER
As the long day has worn on, If rumors are correct, the
with deadlines approaching bus will take the fedayeen
and passing unmarked, no and their prisoners to an
further hostages having been airport for transportation to
killed since the bloody toll either Libya or Syria. This
this morning, it's uncertain is a moment of great danger
where things stand or what for everyone involved.
the abductors think they have
to gain, other than their own
safety.
CUT TO:

13BB EXT. AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE UNDERGROUND GARAGE - NIGHT (blHIPJB

STADIUM)
The same group of reporters from the monitors in the previous
scene, arrayed in front of TV cameras with long lenses, and a
number of still photographers as well, filming and
photographing the bus leaving the garage. Policemen and
soldiers in riot gear, are holding them at a distance from
the garage.
 .-
ii.

As the bus leaves the garage, some of the journalists who

have been talking to the camera stop talking and turn to
watch the bus drive down the street.

14 OMIT SCENE 14 14

14A INT. Ah' OFFICE SOMEWHERE IN JERUSALEM 14A

A TELEVISION SCREEN:
The bus driving up Connollystrasse and out of the compound.
Again, the video footage is incomprehensible night filming, a
blur of lights and fragments of crowds, cars, buildings. A
single Israeli reporter is heard.
ISRAELI REPORTER (V.O.)
NO one seems to know if only the
Arab gunmen wlll be taken in the
helicopters, and no one knows of
any alrplane waltlng at an axport
to take the Arabs away. The West
German agencles seem to be,at cross
purposes, even worklng agalnst one
another. That's all that's known
now, nothmg is known.
Someone's hand switches the channel on the television set.
The camera pulls back to reveal:
General Eytan Nadav and General Aharon Yariv, watching
television. Yariv is on the phone, nodding, responding
occasionally. Both men keep their eyes on the TV throughout
Behind them are many subalterns, high-ranking officers and
civilians, watching the television and talking on the phone
and to one another, strategizing.
Nadav whispers something emphatic into Yariv's other ear, who
nods while continuing his conversation on the phone and TV
watching.
The strange, confusing night footage continues in silence for
a bit.
Eventually out of the confusion, two helicopters are
discernible, flying from the Village.
 BBC REPORTER(V.0.)
The decision's been made, what I'm
hearing from here is that they are
headed to an airport, called, urn...
Furstenfeldbruck, where a DC9 plane
will be waiting to take the
terrorists and their hostages to
Libya or --

15 INT. A GUARD BOOTH AT FURSTENFELDBRUCK AIRPORT (TOKOL 15

AIRFIELD)
A small television is playing as the guards, not watching,
stare out the window -- the armored vehicles on television
are roaring past the guard booth.
ON TV: night-time chaos again. Mostly we see bright lights
piercing blackness, streaking the screen. Crowds, cars,
soldiers, police, press. A German reporter is being shoved
aside as enter the gates.
GERMAN REPORTER (V.0 . )
There are armored cars now, they --
They were stuck in traffic and now,
an hour after we first heard
gunfire and --
The sound of a big explosion. The TV camera lurches up to
show a huge fireball, rising behind the perimeter fence from
the direction of the runway and silhouetting the air traffic
tower.
The guards in the guard booth rush out of the booth to see
the fireball rising.
(PLAYBACK -- LIVE FEED)

16 INT. AN APARTmNT IN HAIFA -- LATE NIGHT 16

A young woman, the wife of one of the athletes, is sitting on
a chair, clutching a framed picture of her husband. Behind
her, a few friends and family are sitting. A teenaged girl
is leaning against her chair, looking exhausted and
frightened .
ON TV:
Israeli Broadcast Authority Munich coverage, t n e stadium
backdrop, as before:
 ANOTHER ISRAELI NEWS ANCHOR
We have reports now that all the
hostages, all nine hostages are
safe.
The wife of the athlete is rocking, slightly, trying to hold
it in. She isn't sobbing but tears are streaming down her
face.
ANOTHER ISRAELI NEWS ANCHOR
We repeat, we have confirmed, it's
just past one AM, the fighting
ceased at midnight, that all the
hostages are safe, and --
CUT TO:

INT. A PALESTINIAN HOUSE IN HEBRON - LATE NIGHT

Men and women and children are watching the Israeli
broadcast.
ANOTHER ISRAELI NEWS ANCHOR (V.O.)
All the hostages, we are told all
the hostages are safe. And all the
Arabs have been killed.
Some of the men and women begin to weep. A ululating cry
rises from the women; it becomes a great piercing cry of
mourning.
CUT TO:

INT. AN ARMY BARRACKS, TKE GOLAN HEIGHTS - LATE NIGHT

Soldiers in the IDF are watching a small television set.
TV SCREEN:
ISRAELI NEWS ANCHOR
It has been learned that three of
the nine Arab terrorists have
survived the gun and grenade battle
at Furstenfeldbruck Airport and are
now in German custody.

18A OMITTED

a 19-19A OMITTED
20 INT. AVNER'S APARTMENT, TEL AVIV - EARLY EVENING
Later the same day. A modest, underfurnished modern Israeli
apartment. Avner is sitting alone on a small sofa watching
television, a grim, tight expression on his face. His large
friendly dog, charlie, is whining and nosing about for
attention. Avner gently pushes him away.
CUT TO TV
SCREEN :
2 0A Grainy footage of the flag-draped coffins of the murdered20A
athletes being unloaded at Lod Airport.
FEMALE ISRAELI TELEVISION ANCHOR
(V.O. )
The bodies of the eleven murdered
Olympic athletes arrived this
morning at Lod Airport.
The camera switches to show huge crowds gathered at night in
downtom Tel Aviv.
FEMALE ISRAELI TELEVISION
ANCHOR (CONT' D)
Enormous crowds have gathered on
Dlzengoff Street, and in Jerusalem
on the plaza in front of the
Xnesset. People are weepmg,
tearlng thelr clothes.. .
The funerals, whlch w ~ l lbe held
tomorrow in Jerusalem, are expected
to draw tens of thousands of
mourners.

21 CUT BACK TO: 21

Avner, watching, is clenching his right fist so tight his arm
tremors, then hyperflexing, again to the point of tremors.
With a sigh, Charlie settles nearby.
Daphna, Avner's seven-months-pregnant wife, opens the front
door, carrying the mail. Avner looks up at her and then back
to the TV. They don't say anything. He moves over to one
end of the sofa, making room for her; she squeezes in between
him and the arm rest. They watch in silence.
 FEMALE ISRAELI TELEVISION ANCHOR
These are the names of members of
the Israeli team at the Munich
Olympics who were held hostage,
beaten, and finally murdered by
Arab terrorists.
David Marc Berger.
As she says each name, the face of the athlete appears on the
screen. Avner repeats each name quietly, or noiselessly,
after the announcer.

22 INT. A ROOM IN JERUSALEM - TIME UNKNOWN 22

A hand places a grainy photo of an Arab man on a tabletop.
A MALE VOICE
Dr. Wadi Haddad.

23 INT. A W R ' S PSARTMENT, TEL AVIV - EARLY EVENING 23

On the television, a shot of the flags at the Olympics
vlllage belng lowered to half mast.
FEMALE ISRAELI TELEVISION ANCHOR
Zeev Friedman.

24 INT. A ROOM IN JERUSALEM - TIME UNKNOWN

Another photo of another Arab man.
A MALE VOICE
Abu Daoud.

25 INT. AVNER'S APARTMENT, TEL AVIV - EARLY EVENING

Avner and Daphna watching.
FEMALE ISRAELI TELEVISION ANCHOR
Yossef Gutfreund.

26 INT. A ROOM IN JERUSALEM - TIME UNKNOWN

Another photo.
A E VOICE
Mahmoud Hamshari.
 Another hand picks up the photo, passing it to yet another
hand.

27 INT. AVNER' S APARTMENT, TEL A V I V - EARLY EVEhTNG 27

On the television, film footage of Paulo, standing on the
balcony at 31 Connollystrasse, wearing his stocking mask,
holding a gun.
FEMALE I S m L I TELEVISION ANCHOR
Eliezer Halfin. Yosef Romano.

28 I N T . A ROOM I N JERUSALEM - TIME UNKNOWN

Another photo.
A MALE VOICE
Wael Zwaiter.

29 I N T . AVNER'S A-PARTMENT, TEL AVIV-- EARLY EVENING 29

Avner and Daphna watching.

FEMALE ISRAELI TELEVISION ANCHOR
Arnitzur Shapira.
DAPHNA
(softly:)
Oh God. I think I knew his cousin.

30 I N T . A ROOM I N JERUSALEM - TIME UNKNOWN

Another photo.
A MALE VOICE
Dr. Basil al-Kubaisi.

31 EXT. ON A SQUARE I N jERUSALEM - DAY 31

A procession of coffins, draped with Israeli fiags, are

making their way through a massive, somber crowd. People are
weeping. A band is playing the Hatikvah.
FEMALE ISRAELI TELEVISION ANCHOR
Kehat Shorr. Mark Slavin, Andrei
Spitzer .
INT. A ROOM IN JERUSALEM - TIME 'UNKNOWN
Another photo.
A MALE VOICE
Kamal Nasser.
Another photo.
A MALE VOICE
Kamal Adwan.
A MALE VOICE
Mahmoud Yussuf Najjer, also known
as "Abu Yussuf" .
Another photo is placed as the previous photo is picked up.
A W E VOICE
Mohammed Boudia.
Another photo. Then another.
A MALE VOICE
Hussein al-Chir. Ali Hassan
Saiameh.

INT. AVNER'S APARTMENT, TEL AVIV - EARLY EVENING

Avner and Daphna, listening. Avner is still silently
pronouncing the names.
FEMALE ISRAELI TELEVISION ANCHOR
(V.O. )
Yacov Springer. Moshe Weinberg.
Charlie is whining from the kitchen.
DAHPNA
I tried not to think about you but
I couldn't.
AVNER
I have the world's most boring job.
What's going to happen to me?
DAPHNA
They were just athletes. They went
to the Olympics. Look what happened
to them.
What now?
 Avner smiles at her.
AVNER
Now?
Now we're going to have a baby

34 INT. A ROOM IN JERUSALEM - TIME UNKNOWN 34

The tabletop, pictures of the Arab men in a disorderly pile.
A MALE VOICE
Eleven names.
The room is cluttered, shuttered, smoky, an air of siege and
crisis, and all its occupants are dishevelled, weary --
they've been arguing, fighting, planning, arguing again for
many many hours and it shows. Meir is rumpled, all business,
hair a mess, wearing glasses.
Around the table ten people are seated: Golda Meir, General
Zvi Zamir, General Aharon Yariv, General Eytan Nadav, Mike
Harari, head of Mossad's Central Operational Group -- the
voice announcing the names of the Palestinians -- and four
other ministers, including Meir Shamgar, the Attorney
General. Harari gathers together the photographs, and puts
them in a folder. He passes the folder to the Attorney
General, who has before him another folder, thick with
documents.
MIKE HARARI
Give us the order and we begin.
Everyone at the table looks to Meir.
GOLDA MEIR
It's the same as Eichmann. We say
to these butchers, "You didn't want
to share this world with us, then
we don't have to share this world
with you."
(to the Attorney General:)
There's legitimacy for this.
The Attorney General winces.
GOLDA MEIR
Ambushed and slaughtered again.
While the rest of the world is
playing games, Olympic torches and
brass bands and dead Jews in
Germany. And the world couldn't
care less.
 A MINISTER
We've responded. We sent seventy
fighter jets.
ANOTHER MINISTER
A response no one heard.
A MINISTER
Air strikes on guerilla training
centers. That's a response.
GENERAL EYTAN NADAV
No one notices what happens in the
border camps.
A MINISTER
Sixty Arabs dead, at least, who
knows how many wounded?
GENERAL NADAV
This is about fixing the world's
attention.
GENERAL ZAMIR
- , Well it's not just a publiciky
stunt.
He holds up the photograph of Salameh for all to see.
GENERAL ZAMIR
Let me remind you: Ali Hassan
Salameh. He invented Black
September.
Brief silence in the room
GOLDA MEIR
These people... They're sworn to
destroy us. Forget peace for now.
We have to show them we're strong.
(a beat)
We have laws, we represent
civilization. Some people say we
can't afford to be civilized. I've
always resisted such people.
She looks sharply at Harari, he looks back at her.
GOLDA MEIR (CONT'D)
(Angry:)
But I don't know who these maniacs
are or where they come from.
Palestinians? Who are
Palestinians?
(MORE
 GOLDA MEIR (CONT'D)
There are no such people. They're
not... recognizable. You tell me,
what law protects people like
these?
Today I'm hearing with new ears.
A nod to Harari.
GOLDA MEIR (CONT'D)
Every civilization finds it
necessary to negotiate compromises
with its own values. I have made a
decision. The responsibility is
entirely mine.
The Attorney General opens the document folder. He takes a
photo, matches it with a document, and signs. He takes
another photo, another document, and signs.

35 EXT. OUTSIDE AVNER'S APARTMENT, TEL AVIV - MORNING 35

Avner comes out of his apartment building. A government sedan
is waiting for him. A soldier is standing beside the car,
holding open the curbside passenger door. Avner's surprised.
., ,

AVNER
Usually I take the bus.
SOLDIER
We're going to Jerusalem. Get in.
Avner peers inside the car. There's a soldier in the
driver's seat. General Zamir is in the backseat. Avner
looks back at his front door, then gets in.

36 INT. INSIDE THE CAR - MORNING 36

Avner climbs into the car. He salutes the general, awkwardly.
Zamir nods. The car pulls out.
AVNER
You swore us in, my unit, when I
joined Mossad.
General Zamir nods.
GENEFXL ZAMIR
I don't remember you. Of course I
know your father.
General Zamir picks up the Jerusalem Post and, ignoring
Avner, reads. Avner stares out the window. The car drives
on.
37 INT. GOLDA MEIR'S APARTMENT IN JERUSALEM - DAY
Avner and General Zamir enter the room.
seated on a couch and comfy chairs in an ordinary apartment,
pamtings and photos on the wall: Golda Meir, Mike Harari,
General Aharon Yariv, General Eytan Nadav and Ephraun.
Golda Meir looks calmer, resigned, more pulled-together than
before. She's dressed to look official.
GOLDA MEIR
Avner. It's been...
AVNER
years since --
~ w o
GOLDA MEIR
Sit. This is Harari.
Avner nods, wide-eyed.
GOLDA MEIR (CONT'D)
General Nadav over there, and this
is General Yariv.
How are you? How is your father?
AVNER
He's... urn, fine, thank you.
GOLDA MEIR
Coffee? Wonderful to see you again.
Avner shakes his head no, then yes. He looks at Ephraim, who
smiles at him but whom no one has introduced.
GENERAL ZAMIR
(To Avner:)
Sit.
Avner sits, as does Zamir. Golda Meir serves him coffee.
GENERAL ZAMIR
The chief of Mossad, two generals
and the Prime Minister. Obviously
it ' s important.
GENERAL YARZV
This is something new. What
happened in Munich changes
everything. The rules, everything.
 GENERAL ZAMIR
We want to ask you, will you
undertake a mission? An important
mission. You will have to leave the
country and your family. Maybe for
years.
GENERAL YARIV
And it's dangerous.
GENERAL ZAMIR
You can't talk about it to anyone,
not even your wife.
GENERAL YARIV
You could die doing this, away from
home, and no one will know where
you're buried.
Silence.
GENERAL NADAV
(to Avner:)
Now you should say something.
GENERAL ZAMIR
Do you have any questions?
AVNER
So... this isn't about guarding
tourists on El A1 jets?
Zamir chuckles at this.
G E N E W NADAV
No questions? Did we mention how
dangerous it is?
GOLDA MEIR
You know my sister died Tuesday?
AVNER
No, I -
GOLDA MEIR
Cancer. I couldn't go to the
athletes' funerals because she
died. That upset people, but... She
was my sister. Family matters.
Your w i f e is pregnant?
AVNER
Yes, seven months.
 GOLDA MEIR
Mazeitov.
Meir and Yariv exchange a look. Avner watches them.
GOLDA MEIR
You were one of my favorite
bodyguards, you know? I like neat,
durable men.
AVNER
You liked having the son of a hero
around.
GOLDA MEIR
Truth to be told, you don't look
much like your father.
AVNER
No?
GOLDA MEIR
Your mother is who you resemble.
She stands, and everyone stands. She pats Avner's cheek.
After briefly conferring with Yariv, Meir leaves the room.
GENERAL ZAMIR
(to Avner:)
What's your answer?
MIKE HARARI
Eleven unarmed Jewish boys,
butchered. That's Jewish history.
It's a heavy burden.
Barari taps Avner's sternum, hard, with a blunt forefinger.
MIKE HARARI (CONT'D)
I wish they'd asked me to do this.
I wish I was younger.
Harari cocks an ever-so-slightly skeptical eyebrow at Yariv.
Avner sees it.
GENERAL NADAV
If we don't respond, if they think
we're weak, there will be Munich
every year. That's it, you see.
Irrefutable. A new Munich, every
year. On and on. We can't be
weak.
Nadav, Yariv, Zamir and Harari stand, ready to go.
 GENE= ZAMIR
Tomorrow morning. If you can't
decide in one day you can't decide.
Ephraim watches Avner watch the generals and Harari leave.
EPHRAIM
Her sister died, but I think she
didn't go to the athletes' funerals
because some people are angry at
her for not negotiating with the
terrorists. She didn't go to the
funerals because she didn't want to
be booed.
It's a good sign that you didn't
ask questions. You'll say yes. I'm
your case officer. My name is
Ephraim.
Ephraim leaves. Avner is alone.

38 OMITTED

42 IET. AVNER'S APARTMENT - NIGHT 42

Avner and Da~hnaare makina love.

careful becabse she's so p;egnant.
-
She's on tow. They 're

They finish. Daphna lies down

AVNER
How late in a pregnancy before you
have to stop having sex?
DAPHNA
Labor?
Avner laughs
DAPHNA (CONT'D)
Don't worry about it. You won't be
around.
Silence. They lie still, not looking at one another. Then
she looks at Avner.
DAPHNA (CONT'D)
Will you?
(not a joke:)
Whatever they want, make sure they
give you a raise. I need things.
For the baby.
 AVNER
I can't live with refusing this.
A beat.
DAPHNA
Your mother, she knew what she was
doing, she abandoned you at that
kibbutz --
AVNER
She didn't abandon me, my father
had disappeared, he was in prison,
she was overwhelmed, she --
DAPHNA
So she put you in the kibbutz and
abandoned you. And now you think
Israel's your mother.
So listen, Avner, I'm going to go
along with this. Until I don't.
You understand me?
AVNER
I love you.
DAPHNA
I'm not the hero's nice wife.
He grabs her. She resists. Then they hug, ferociously.

39 INT. ROOM 27-5-H, MOSSAD HEADQUARTERS, TEL AVIV - DAY 39

Ephraim is seated behind a desk in an entirely nondescript
room. Avner is seated across the desk. Ephraim takes a sheet
of paper from a desk drawer, slides it across the desk to
Avner .
EPWIM
First you resign from Mossad.
Avner looks at Ephraim, surprised.
EPHRAIM (CONT' D)
Your new contract. It says we do
not employ you, offer you benefits
or pension or legal aid or medical
assistance. It's a contract that
there is no contract.
Avner signs.
 AVNER
Do I get a copy?
EPHRkIM
You don't.
Your pension contribution refund.
Ephrab hands Avner a check and puts the signed contracts
back in the desk draw, locks it. Ephraim stands.
EPHWiIM (CONT' D )
YOU are now officially unofficial.
Unemployed and uninsured.

40 INT. ROOM 27-5-1, MOSSAD HEADQUARTERS - DAY 40

An accountant's office adjacent to Room 27-5-H. Avner and
Ephraim are standing. Behind a small, neat desk with an
adding machine, an leathery-tough old man has interrupted his
work to talk to them.
MOSSAD ACCOUNTANT
you'll open two accounts at the
Union de Banques Suisses in Geneva
on Rue de la Commerce. Operational
funds in one box, in the other,
your salary. Which you don't take
till the mission ends, when you get
what accumulates. Also for each of
your men you open an account for
his salary.
AVNER
How many men do I --
MOSSAD ACCOUNTANT
In the operational funds box we
will deposit two hundred and fifty
thousand American dollars. You take
it out, we put more in. I want
receipts. You're not working for
Baron Rothschild, you're working
for Israel, a small country. I'm
an old Galicianer from a mud hut in
the Ukraine and I don't trust Yekke
putzes let loose in Europe with
unlimited operational expenses.
AVNER
I'm was born in Israel, 1% not a
Yekke.
 MOSSAD ACCOUNTANT
Where's your grampa from?
AVNER
Frankfurt.
MOSSAD ACCOUNTANT
You're a Yekke.
I want receipts. Take a train or a
subway, no one needs taxis and
airplanes all the time. Your wife
receives monthly a thousand dollars
in her bank account.
EPHRAIM
Also we'll leave messages in the
box with the operational funds.
W d you can leave messages for us.
But there shouldn't be messages.
MOSSAD ACCOUNTANT
I don't care about that. Bring me
receipts. You got me?
AVNER
I got you.
MOSSAD ACCOUh'TANT
Whatever you're doing, somebody
else is paying for it. Remember.
The accountant dismisses them with a wave of his hand and
returns to his calculations.

EXT. A STONE PIER BY THE SEA, JAFFA -DAY 41

Ephraim and Avner are eating baklava from a white cardboard
box.
EPHRAIM
We have eleven Palestinian names.
Each had a hand in planning Munich.
You're going to kill them.
Eleven men, one by one.
They're all in Europe now. You'll
stay there as long as it takes.
Europe only, not the Arab
countries, that's for us, not you,
and not the Eastern bloc, don't
upset the Russians, who needs it.
You will have no contact with us.
 AVNER
You're n o t going t o g i v e me any
information?
EPHRAIM
W e d e p o s i t money from a fund t h a t
d o e s n ' t e x i s t i n t o a box we d o n ' t
know abou?; i n a bank we never s e t
f o o t i n . We c a n ' t h e l p you because
we n e v e r h e a r d of you b e f o r e .
Y o u ' l l do what t h e t e r r o r i s t s do.
You t h i n k t h e y r e p o r t back t o home
base? They d o n ' t .
We want them dead.
They walk a b i t . Ephraim f i n i s h e s a p i e c e of b a k l a v a ,
smacking h i s l i p s , b r e a t h i n g t h e a i r .
EPHRAIM (CONT'D)
Nothing b e t t e r t h a n e a t i n g
something sweet by t h e s e a .
You can ask q u e s t i o n s now.
AVNER
Am I . a l o n e ?. .. ..

EPHRAIM
Four o t h e r s . They know u s e f u l
t h i n g s l i k e c a r s , documents, clean-
up t o make s u r e you d i d n ' t
a c c i d e n t a l l y drop your f a k e
p a s s p o r t n e x t t o t h e dead body.
You're t h e team l e a d e r .
AVNER
Who, urn, who k i l l s t h e t a r g e t s ?
EPHRAIM
You do. Who e l s e ?
Use guns i f you have t o , b u t bombs
a r e p r e f e r a b l e . One of your guys
knows how t o make them. W e want
everyone t o r e a d i n Le Monde some
famous Arab t e r r o r i s t i s dead, who
knows who blew him up?
AVNER
Why me?
EPHRAIM
What's wrong w i t h yau?
 AVNER
I'm not an experienced field
operative.
(getting it:)
So I'm not known.
EPHRAIM
And not even I know you now.
AVNER
And also I lived in Frankfurt when
I was a kid, a Yekke Jew who knows
his way around Europe --
EPHRAIM
That's a good reason and here's one
more: You're ordinary, you aren't a
Sabra Charles Bronson.
AVNER
I'm a Sabra.
EPHRAIM
Yeah I know. I know so much about
you. A nice sabra with a dog and a
baby on the way and you won't shoot
Spanish bellhops. No bellhops, no
civilians. That kind of trouble we
can't afford.
The hard thing won't be finding
them. Some of them, anyway, aren't
so carefully hidden.
The hard thing will be not
punishing yourselves by getting
caught or getting killed.
AVNER
Are there other teams? or --
EPHRAIM
You're underprepared. What else is
new? Were we prepared to build our
own country? We did it anyway.
You'll figure it out.
AVNER
How come you're so sure?
EPHRAIM
Because every Jew on earth saw
those eleven coffins and thought "I
want to kill the ones who did
this." You got lucky.
(MORE)
 EPHRAIM (cont'd)
you want to say this was a mistake?
Want to pass this job on to someone
else? Now's the time. No one will
ever know.
A beat.
AVNER
I already signed. tne contract.
EPHRAIM
(Smiling, pleased :)
What contract?
Do you want the last piece of
baklava?
Avner shakes his head no.
EPHRAIM (CONT'D)
Smart decision, you should avoid
sweets. After all you just signed
away your dental insurance.
In the movle, the following scene comes before the one that
lust conciuded.

INT. ON BOARD A SWISS AIR FLIGHT TO GENEVA - NIGHT 43

43
The plane's half-empty, the other passengers are asleep.
Avner has a row to himself. He's sitting by the window,
staring out. He switches on the light overhead. His
reflection appears. Another face appears in the reflection,
apparently right behind Avner, a man in a stocking mask.
Avner stares into the other man's dark eyes, veiled but
visible through the mesh.

44 INT. IN THE HALLWAY OF APARTMENT ONE, 31 CONNOLLYSTRASSE, 44

MUNICH - 4:25AM (STAGE/ICE RINK)
The eight intruders are shoving as a group against a door.

45 INT. APARTMENT 1, 31 CONNOLLYSTRASSE, MUNICH - 4:25 AM 45

(STAGE/ICE RINK)
On the other side of the door, Yossef Gutfreund is shouting
to wake up the others. Behind him, Tuvia Sokolovsky is
breaking the glass in a window and crawling out.
Finally the fedayeen succeed in forcing the door open.
Guttfreund falls to the ground.
 INT. APARTMENT 1 AT 3 i CONNOLLYSTRASSE - 4:30AM (STAGE/ICE46
RINK )

Moshe Weinberg, t h e w r e s t l i n g coach, r u s h e s a t I s s a , who i s

e n t e r i n g h i s room; Weinberg s l a s h e s I s s a a c r o s s t h e c h e s t
w i t h a f r u i t k n i f e h e ' s found l y i n g nearby. Tony, e n t e r i n g
t h e room behind I s s a , f i r e s a p i s t o l and s h o o t s Weinberg i n
t h e face. S e v e r e l y wounded, he h u r l s himself a t t h e man who
s h o t him, dropping t h e k n i f e on t h e ground.

INT. UPSTAIRS APARTMENT ONE FRONT ROOM, 31 CONNOLLYSTRASSE07

4:45AM (STAGE/ICE RINK)
I s s a , P a o l o , Abu-Halah, Badran, Kader, and S a l a h , b r a n d i s h i n g
m47s, a r e t y i n g up S p r i n g e r , S h a p i r a , S c h o r r , S p i t z u r and
G u t t f r e u n d , screaming a t them, i n t e r r o g a t i n g them, a s k i n g f o r
t h e whereabouts of o t h e r I s r a e l i a t h l e t e s . Weinberg i s b e i n g
herded o u t of t h e room.

INT. UPSTAIRS APARTMENT THREE AT 31 CONNOLLYSTRASSE - 4 : 4 5 m

(STAGE/ICE RINK)

Tony, Badran, Paolo, I&der and Samir a r e r o u s t i n g o u t of bed

Berger, T s o b a r i , S l a v i n , H a l f i n , Romano, on c r u t c h e s , and
Freedman. Weinberg, f a c e b l e e d i n g and bandaged w i t h a s c a r f ,
i s leaning against a wall.

4 8A I N T . HALLWAY OUTSIDE APARTMENT ONE, 31 CONNOLLYSTRASSE --48A

4:46AM (STAGE/ICE RINK)
The a t h l e t e s from apartment t h r e e , hands r a i s e d , a r e b e i n g
l e d i n t o apartment one by t h e fedayeen. Weinberg, behind
T s o b a r i , s h o u t s a t t h e o t h e r s t o r u n , and a s he does he t u r n s
and smashes one of t h e fedayeen, Badran , i n t h e f a c e ,
t e a r i n g a gash i n Badran's f a c e , knocking o u t s e v e r a l t e e t h .
Badran f a l l s .
One of t h e fedayeen f i r e s a p i s t o l i n t o Weinberg's head,
k i l l i n g him.
4 8B T s o b a r i escapes o u t a door which l e a d s t o t h e underground48B
carpark.

Romano, dropping h i s c r u t c h e s , a l s o r u n s , l i m p i n g p a i n f u l l y ,
i n t o apartment one. He g r a b s Weinberg's dropped k n i f e as h e
r u n s up t h e s p i r a l s t a i r c a s e .
At the top of the stairs he encounters one of the fedayeen:
Salah, who is wearing a stocking mask. With great force
Romano stabs Salah in his forehead. He screams, spraying
blood, and staggers, the knife sticking straight out of his
forehead. Romano runs into the room in which the first five
athletes are captive (Schorr Springer Shapira Shpitzer and
Guttfreund).
As Romano bursts into the room, covered in blood, he is
confronted by Abu Hallah who fires killing Romano who falls
heavily into the middle of the room, while the bound athletes
inside cower from the gunfire.

EXT. THE SIDEWALK OUTSIDE 31 CONNOLLYSTRASSE - 4:55AE.I 48BF

!STAGE/ICE RINK)
Tony, Kader and Paulo drag the body of Moshe Weinberg out to
the sidewalk. They drop his corpse face-down on the sidewalk.
They run back into the building.

INT. ON BOARD A SWISS AIR FLIGHT TO GENEVA - NIGHT 49

Outside the plane's window, the dawn is breaking in a thin
red line on the horizon. Avner's staring at his reflection.
He turns out the overhead light.

EXT. THE UNION DE BANQUES SUISSES, GENEVA - DAY 50

Establishing shot of the bank.

INT. THE SAFETY DEPOSIT VAULT, UNION DE BANQUES SUISSES, 51

GENEVA - DAY
Avner is in a private room in the vault. He has an empty
kna~sackwith him. One large safety deposit box and five
smailer ones are on the table. There's a pile of rubber
bands on the table.
Avner opens the large box. It's packed with stacks of US
dollars. He removes ten stacks of bills from the box, a
great deal of cash, and puts them in the knapsack. Then he
opens one of the smaller boxes. It's got a modest amount of
cash. He closes the smaller box, leaving all the money
inside. He makes sure all boxes are locked. He is fastidious.
Holding his knapsack, he pushes a button at the side of the
door of the room. The door is opened immediately by a very
pretty, very Swiss bank official, who smiles at Avner as she
ushers him out of the room. He smiles back at her.
52 INT. THE SAFE HOUSE IN FRANKFURT - DAY
It's a handsomely furnished apartment, solid furniture. Carl,
Hans, and Steve and Robert are meeting for the first time.
Everyone's dressed casually except for Hans, who wears a coat
and tie. Behind them is a table set for dinner.
Avner emerges from the kitchen, wearing an apron, carrying a
large steaming brisket on a tray.
HANS
A team leader who cooks! What a
luxury!
AVNER
Years in the kibbutz kitchen.
STEVE
(to Avner:)
You've done this before?
AVNER
Done what?
Sit.
Everyone sits. Avner starts serving.
STEVE
Because I joined Mossad ten minutes
ago and I'm, I want to kill every
one of these pigs but -- so, so
some of you have training in --
CAIU,
(pointing to Hans:)
He sells antiques.
HANS
Right here in Frankfurt! It's a
front, but successful, I'm a
documents and identities specialist
with an sharp eye for early Danish
modern.
ROBERT
I make toys.
CARL
I thought you made bombs.
 ROBERT
Toys. In Brussels. But don't
worry, I've been studying how to
make bombs!
STEVE
(to Avner:)
Is it Ali Hassan Salameh? Is that
our job? We're here to kill the
guy who planned Munich, am I right?
Everyone eats.
ROBERT
After the Six Day War, I joined
Mossad because I needed to do
something, you know? For my people.
When my son came along I thought,
well. I've made a new Jew.
AVNER
My wife's expecting.
ROBERT
Mazeltov!
CARL AND HANS ROBERT
Mazeltov ! That's wonderful! When?
AVNER
A couple of months from now.
ROBERT
Think we'll be done by then?
Silence. Eating. No one wants to talk about this.
CARL
It's strange, isn't it? To think
of oneself as an assassin?
AVNER
Then think of yourself as something
else.
HANS
A soldier. In a war.
Avner nods. Carl raises his glass to Hans, a toast.
STEVE
Right, and you know how to shoot,
to assassinate people? Right?
(MORE)
 STEVE (cont'd)
I mean, mazels on the baby and all
that, that's just great but, but --
(to ~ ~ b e & )
You make dolls, in a toyshop, and
(to Hans)
You shop for sofas and
(Carl)
I don't know what you do --
CARL
I worry.
HANS
His ulcers have ulcers.
STEVE
(to Avner:)
So why'd they make you team leader?
HANS
Because he really knows how to cook
a brisket.
AVNER
You're only the wrong guy for the
3ab if you screw it up.
So let's not screw it up.

53 INT. THE SAFE HOUSE IN FRANKFURT - DAY 53

From a high angle above the table: The table, lit by lamps,
has been cleared for work. The eleven photographs of the
targeted Palestinians have been laid out on the table as they
were in scene 34.
AVNER
There are seven hard targets,
military, armed. And four soft
targets, poets, loudmouth
intellectuals. Each has blood on
his hands, each is responsible in
some way for Munich.
They examine the photos as they talk.
ROBERT
How do we find our targets?
AVNER
That's the tricky part. No help
from Mossad.
A beat. Everyone considers this.
 CARL
Let's not waste time with the Arab
coffeehouses and mosques.
Informers tattling on informers.
HANS
And the money we pay the informers
gets funneled straight back to
Black September.
c m
The fedayeen in Munich had AK-47s,
fake passports, plane tickets. Who
paid for all that?
AVNER
We're forbidden the Arab countries.
We can't go to Eastern Europe
either.
CARL
Which leaves the European radical
Left.
HANS
Palestinian sympathizers, and
penetrable. Sloppy, even.
CARZ,
Money leaves trails. And it opens
pathways.
The group continues to discuss, Avner watching. Steve,
Robert and Hans are exchanging ideas. We don't hear the
dialogue; as Avner watches, we hear the sound of a phone
being dialled, ringing, someone picking up.
ANDREAS (GERMAN)(V.O.)
Hello?
A W E R (GERMAN)(V.O.)
Andreas? Guess who?
ANDREAS (GERMAN)(V.O.)
Holy shit!
AVNER(GERMAN) (V.O.)
Surprised?
ANDREAS (V.0,)
You punched me! You broke my jaw!
 AVNER(GERMAN) (V.O.)
That was ten years ago.
(in ENGLISH)
And you were screwing my
girlfriend.

54 OMITTED 54

55 INT. ANDREAS'S APARTMENT IN FRANKFURT - NIGHT 55

The apartment is an elegant shambles; clearly expensive,
remnants of costly furnishings, but also posters from strikes
and marches and a portrait of Fanon thumbtacked on smoke-
dingy walls. Books are strewn everywhere.
Andreas and his girlfriend, Yvonne, are smoking pot; Avner is
pretending to, but he isn't. There's also beer and wine.
Yvonne is holding Herbert Marcuse's "Reason and Revolution":
YVONNE( GERMAN)
The problem is considering right
and wrong as ethical questions.
Marcuse says Hegel's "Philosophy of
Right" doesn't place "wrong" in a
moral category, it's --
ANDREAS(GERMAN)
Then it's OK to kill someone who --
YVONNE(GEM)
Free Will necessarily creates
wrong. That's in Marx, the blind
anarchy of capitalism. You have to
be willing to re-consider, right,
wrong, they're just ways of talking
about a terrible struggle, parts of
an equation, a dialectic -- strip
the sentiment out and try to come
to t e n s with historical forces
external to us and indifferent to
moral category.
ANDREAS (GERMAN)
(over Yvonne, after "You
have to be willing etc":)
She's amazing, isn't she?
AWER ( GERMAN )
(over Yvonne:)
I don't know what she's talking
about.
 ANDREAS ( GERMAN )
(over Yvonne:)
Neither do I but she's dead sexy,
yeah?
YVONNE: (GERMAN)
you,
FUC~ pig.
(to Avner , in GERMAN: )
You don't read much, huh.
AVNER ( GERMAN)
I'm busy.
ANDREAS (GERMAN)
What sort of business do you.. .
Andreas re-lights a joint he's holding and tokes it.
AVNER ( GERMAN)
I work for some Americans.
ANDREAS(GERMAN)
Rich Americans, right?
Avner takes the joint out of Andreas's fingers, puts it in
his mouth but doesn't toke. He takes an enormous wad of money
from his pocket. He cracks up, as does Andreas. Yvonne puts
Marcuse down and takes the money from Avner's hand, then the
joint from his mouth. She tokes and starts counting the
money .
ANDREAS
Hey, Yvonne! Avner wants to get in
your pants! He told me.
Andreas takes the joint from Yvonne. He tokes
ANDREAS (IN ENGLISH)
I really miss you, man, you know,
we really loved each other.
AVNER
That was, like, a long time ago,
man, we were in high school!
YVONNE ( G E M )
It's sixty thousand dollars, Avner.
Avner starts to laugh again, as if he's stoned, Andreas
joining in. Yvonne takes the joint, tokes.
 AVNER(GERMAN)
(to Yvonne)
I nave a few names, people I need
to find. For my rich Americans.
(in ENGLISH:)
Give me my money, Yvonne.
He reaches for it. She pulls away, hanging on to the money
AVNER(GERMAN) (CONT'D)
Are you Baader-Meinhof? Red Army
Faction? What?
YVONNE
One hundred fifty.
AVNER
One hundred in cash.
Avner takes a smaller wad of cash out of another pocket.
ANDREAS(GERMAN)
.
One hundred.. thousand! ??!
Dollars?l
AVNER
These people I'm looking for, you
don't know them.
YVONNE
We might.
AVNER ( GERMAN)
You don't. But I think maybe you
know people who would.
A beat.
YVONNE (GERMAN)
And it's Americans? You work for --
Avner exhales. He takes a $5,000 bill out of the new wad.
AVNER
See? James Madison. American.
Yvonne and Andreas look at one another.
WomE
We'll ask some friends.
56 EXT. A CAFE OFF THE PIAZZA NAVONA - DAY
Andreas and Avner are sitting at a table with Tony, a tough-
looking Italian man, mid-4Os, very serious, plates of pasta
in front of them.
TONY
Hidinq? The Arabs aren't hiding.
~ u n i c hwas a big success for them.
ANDRERS
Yeah, the implications of Munich
for the struggle are incredibly, urn
-+

TONY
They got everyone's attention.
They're recruiting. Making plans.
Give me a few names.
m n e r hesitates. They stare at one another. Andreas is
ignored.
TONY -
I can't help if I don't know who
you're trylng to find.
We'll have to trust. You have to
cross the line.
(makes a little "come to
me" gesture, leans in:)
I trust you. You carry cash and you
don't make speeches. Nowadays,
everyone makes speeches. Like our
friend Andreas. Talk talk talk.
Tony gives Andreas's face a gentle slap. Andreas tries to
pretend not to be insulted.
TONY
So name me an Arab.
AVNER
Abu Yussuf. Abu Daoud. Wael
Zwaiter. Kemal Nasser.
Tony nods noncommitally: "I've heard of them"
ALTER
Salameh.
TONY
Forget Salameh. Too hard.
 ANDREAS
(to Avner)
Who are these guys? Why are you
trying to find Arabs, it's --
TONY
Sixty thousand per name. Dollars.
AVNER
If it's good information.
TONY
If it isn't good it doesn't cost.
Waei Zwaiter's here. In Rome. He
just translated "The Arabian
Nights" into Italian. Tomorrow
there's a reading. He's broke. He
has a retarded niece he calls every
day in Damascus.
ANDREAS
(to Avner)
Are you trying to join the PLO?
TONY
(to Andreas)
We need to talk alone.
Tony indicates Andreas should leave. Andreas looks to Avner,
who looks back at him, blank.
TONY
(to Avner)
And also maybe you need people to
help with your work, cars, vans.
ANDREAS
(to Avner)
Listen, be careful with this guy,
he, they said he was dangerous.
AVNER
(to Andreas, softly, in
GERMAN: )
Go. I don't want to see you hurt,
either.
ANDREAS
Hurt?
AVNER
Tell anyone about this and, I don't
know, lust don't OK?
 Andreas l o o k s from Avner t o Tony. The menace i n Tony's f a c e
i s unmistakabl.e: "Or I w i l l k i l l you." Andreas, shocked,
l o o k s back a t Avner. Avner nods t o him t o confirm t h e
impression h e ' s j u s t gotten from Tony.

Andreas l e a v e s . Avner watches him go.

TONY
Anything you need. We p r o v i d e .
Avner t u r n s back t o Tony, t h i n k i n g . He nods
AVNER
I need r e c e i p t s .

57-58 OMIT 57-58

59 I N T . A SAFEHOUSE APARTMENT I N ROME - LATE WTEFWOON 59

A one-room apartment, windows t i g h t l y s h u t t e r e d , though

golden Roman a f t e r n o o n l i g h t i s l e a k i n g i n . There a r e
s e v e r a l m a t t r e s s e s on t h e f l o o r , and street maps,
s u r v e i l l a n c e photos, documents, newspapers l i e s c a t t e r e d
about. Avner, C a r l , Hans, Robert and S t e v e , d r e s s e d i n t h e
c l o t h e s t h e y ' l l wear d u r i n g t h e h i t , a r e k n e e l i n g on t h e
f l o o r i n a c i r c l e . C a r l holds four straws i n h i s f i s t .
Avner watches; t h e o t h e r s draw s t r a w s .
They compare. Robert has t h e s h o r t e s t straw. The o t h e r s
look a t him. H e looks away, unhappy.

60 EXT. A SMALL COFFEE H0USE/BOOKSHOP, ROME - DAY 60

A l i t t l e c o u r t y a r d p a t i o r e s t a u r a n t o u t s i d e t h e bookshop. A
t h i n P a l e s t i n i a n man, Wael Zwaiter, i s s t a n d i n g f a c i n g a
s m a l l crowd of I t a l i a n s and Arabs. He is h o l d i n g a copy of
h i s newly-published t r a n s l a t i o n of "1,001 Arabian Nights."
ZWAITER ( I N ITALIAN:)
What a t t r a c t s me t o t h e
Scheherazade s t o r y , t o what you i n
t h e West c a l l "The Arabian Nights" -
- w e l l I am n o t an Arab. I am
P a l e s t i n i a n . And why has a
P a l e s t i n i a n p o e t worked f o r years
t r a n s l a t i n g " 1 , 0 0 1 Arabian Nights"
from t h e Arabic i n t o I t a l i a n ? Apart
from t h e e x p e c t a t i o n of enormous
r i c h e s , I mean?
The audience laughs q u i e t l y .
 Across t h e s t r e e t , C a r l i s watching t h i s performance.
ZWAITER ( I N ITALIAN:)
I l o v e what t h i s c l a s s i c s a y s about
t h e power of n a r r a t i v e , t h e
r e l a t i o n s h i p of n a r r a t i v e t o
s u r v i v a l . As l o n g a s t h e g i r l
Scheherazade t e l l s a s t o r y , s h e
s t a y s a l i v e . For h e r , t h e s t o r i e s
are from f a n t a s y . The s t o r i e s of
my p e o p l e a r e from memory. We t e l l
them, o v e r and over; t o s a v e
o u r s e l v e s from o b l i v i o n . You s e e ?
N a r r a t i v e can have t h e power t o
conquer d e a t h .

Zwaiter s t a n d s .
ZWAITER ( I N ITALIAN:)
Thank you f o r coming t o my r e a d i n g .
Thank you f o r l i s t e n i n g t o me.
The a u d i e n c e applauds p o l i t e l y . Zwaiter m i n g l e s w i t h h i s
audience.
, . ,. . . ,,

EXT. A SMALL COFFEE HOUSE/BOOKSHOP, ROME - LATE AFTERNOON 6 1

A l i t t l e while later. The small crowd h a s gone and Zwaiter
i s leaving. He walks down t h e s t r e e t . C a r l f o l l o w s behind
him.

INT. SMALL GROCERY STORE - LATE AFTERNOON 62

Zwaiter i s u s i n g a payphone, speaking s o f t l y . A t t h e

c o u n t e r , C a r l i s buying an apple. Zwaiter hangs up t h e phone,
goes t o t h e s h e l v e s and s e l e c t s : a j a r of maraschino
c h e r r i e s , some green-colored d i s h s o a p , a b o t t l e of o r a n g e
soda pop, a b o t t l e of grape j u i c e , a s a l a m i , b r e a d , and
f r u i t . H e c a t c h e s C a r l ' s eye a s C a r l l e a v e s t h e s t o r e . They
s m i l e and nod a t one a n o t h e r , f r i e n d l y .

63 EXT. OUTSIDE A SMALL GROCERY, ROME - LATE AFTERNOON 63

C a r l emerges from t h e s t o r e , nods t o S t e v e who i s a c r o s s t h e

s t r e e t i n a F i a t , s i t t i n g n e x t t o a young I t a l i a n woman, who
l o o k s bored. S t e v e nods back a t C a r l and d r i v e s o f f .
Zwaiter comes o u t of t h e s t o r e , c a r r y i n g two brown p a p e r bags
w i t h g r o c e r i e s . He walks down t h e s t r e e t . C a r l f o l l o w s
behind him.
* 64 EXT. THE PIAZZA ANNIBALIANO - LATE AFTERNOON
A van enters the square. It pulls up next to a fountain in
the center of the square. Hans hops out. He looks around the
square. He spots Steve's Fiat across the square, parked
curbside by an apartment building.
When Steve sees Hans get out of the van, he steps our of the
Fiat. Steve positions himself a few doorways away, stepping
into the doorframe to strike a match, light a cigarette. The
bored Italian woman inside the Fiat drives away.
Zwaiter enters the piazza with his groceries. As Zwaiter's
entering, the van has moved from the fountain and is
approaching the parking space previously occupied by the
Fiat.
As Zwaiter enters the building, Hans is stepping out of the
van. Steve gets behind the van's steering wheel and Hans
takes up Steve's former position.

65 INT. THE LOBBY OF ZWAITER'S APARTMENT BUILDING - LATE 65

AFTERNOON
The lobby is dark. Zwaiter opens the front door and steps
inside. He juggles his grocery bag and reaches for the lobby
light switch. He flicks the switch, and the light's timer
starts.
Avner and Robert are standing between Zwaiter and the curved
staircase. Zwaiter looks at the two men, and they look at
him. Everyone's blank for a moment, then:
AVNER
Are you Wael Zwaiter?
ZWAITER
Yes? I'm sorry I -- I --
AVNER
Do you know why we're here?
A beat. Zwaiter shakes his head "no," confused. Robert and
Avner draw their guns; Avner's gun gets caught momentarily in
his belt. Zwaiter is frozen.
AVNER
Are you Wael --
ROBERT
He said yes already, he --
 AVNER
I d i d n ' t h e a r him s a y t h a t he --

Z w a i t e r walks s l o w l y t o Avner and p u t s h i s hand g e n t l y on

A v n e r ' s gun; h e t r i e s c a r e f u l l y t o lower it.
R o b e r t f i r e s two s h o t s , through t h e grocery bags and i n t o
Z w a i t e r ' s c h e s t . Zwaiter looks a t Robert, shocked. Then Avner
f i r e s , two s h o t s , a g a i n through t h e shopping bags, which
Zwaiter c o n t i n u e t o h o l d . Zwaiter screams i n p a i n , t h e n
d r o p s t o h i s k n e e s , t h e n f a l l s f l a t on h i s f a c e , c r u s h i n g t h e
g r o c e r i e s i n t h e bags. T h e r e ' s a sound of b o t t l e breaking:
maraschino l i q u i d , green soap, orange soda, grape j u i c e ,
mixed w i t h d a r k b l o o d , s p i l l o u t under Zwaiter. H e t r i e s t o
r o l l o v e r b u t c a n ' t ; h e ' s p a n t i n g , sobbing.
ZWAITER
(almost inaudible:)
La, l a . A i u t o , a i u t o , p l e a s e ,
please. . .
H e r o l l s over o n t o h i s back. Robert walks up c l o s e and f i r e s
a n o t h e r s h o t r i g h t i n t o Z w a i t e r ' s c h e s t . Avner does t h e same.
Z w a i t e r ' s a l r e a d y s t o p p e d moving. Dazed, t h e y e a c h f i r e
again.
Robert and Avner s t a n d o v e r t h e body, guns o u t , b r e a t h i n g .
Suddenly t h e t i m e r c l i c k s t h e l i g h t s o f f . Avner s w i v e l s i n
t h e d a r k , gun a t t h e ready. He slams t h e l i g h t s w i t c h on and
q u i c k l y l o c a t e s , p i c k s up and pockets t h e s h e l l c a s i n g s ,
counting t o ... seven. H e looks f o r t h e e i g h t h c a s i n g , t h e n
g i v e s up.
Robert i s crouching o v e r t h e body. He h o l d s h i s hand o v e r h i s
nose and mouth, s m e l l i n g something t e r r i b l e . He g a g s .
Suddenly t h e lobby e l e v a t o r shudders and j o l t s i n t o l i f e .
Robert and Avner jump. Someone on an upper f l o o r i s
descending
A W R
Move.

66 EXT. OUTSIDE ZWAITER'S APARTMENT BUILDING - LATE AFTERNOON66

Avner and Robert walk b r i s k l y o u t of t h e b u i l d i n g . The van
i s w a i t i n g . On t h e s i d e of t h e van, a s i g n : " M a u r i z i o and
Sons, Gardening" Avner and Robert yank open t h e v a n ' s rear
door and tumble i n . Hans i s i n s i d e , w a i t i n g , a n d S t e v e i s ir?
t h e d r i v e r ' s s e a t . They p u l i t h e door c l o s e d a n d t h e van
drives off.
67 INT. INSIDE THE VAE - LATE AFTERNOON
Hans, Robert and Avner are seated on sacks of soil and
fertilizer on the floor of the van. Gardening supplies and
ornaments are all around them, swaying as the van drives
throuah Roman streets. Everyone inside is adrenalated and
freaked out.
STEVE
WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT HAPPENED, WHY
DIDN'T YOU SHOOT HIM?
AVNER
WE SHOT HIM!
STEVE
I DIDN'T HEAR A --
ROBERT
WE KILLED HIM! GOD DAMN, HE --
AVNER
EIGHT SHOTS!
ROBERT
HE SHAT HIMSELF! HE'S DEAD!
Everyone stops shouting. They sit in silence as the van
sways. They take in the interior of the van: all around
them, wrapped in clear plastic, are cheap painted plaster
Virgin Mary garden statues, each holding a baby Jesus.
HANS
Hallelujah. It's a sign.

68 EXT. THE PATIO OF A SMALL HOTEL IN LATINA - NIGHT 68

Several hours later. A waitress is serving food. Awful
bouncy Italian music is piped in. Hans, Steve, Avner and
Robert are drinking wine, a little sloshed. There are no
other customers.
Hans is poring over a pile of small pieces of paper --
receipts. Steve drinks, happy; Robert is drunker and glum.
Avner is tense, watching the door, waiting for something.
Carl comes in, looking very tired. This is what Avner was
waiting for. Carl sits next to Avner. The others watch,
CARL
Well, what do you want me to say?
He's dead.
Carl reaches in his pocket and takes out a bullet casing. He
tosses it to Avner. Avner pockets it.
AVNER
Have some wine. We're celebrating.
CARL
That old Pesach story. The angels
are rejoicing because the Egyptians
have just drowned in the Red Sea.
AVNER
I didn't say we're rejoicing.
We're celebrating.
CARL
And God says to the angels "Why are
you celebrating? I've just killed a
multitude of my children."
Silence. Hans folds up the pile of receipts.
HANS
(to Avner)
Mr. Zwaiter. He cost us, by my
calculation, roughly $352,000.
AVIR
(to Carl)
You didn't finish the story. The
angels respond to God. They say
"We're celebrating, God, because
when people hear what happened to
the Egyptians they'll understand
Your point."
CARL
Which was?
STEVE
Don't fuck with the Jews.
I don't know about the rest of you
but I'm not celebrating, I'm
goddamned rejoicing.
Avner raises his glass.
AVNER
To the martyrs.
The others raise their glasses. They toast, and drink, and a
sorrow descends as they remember.
 Steve gets up and goes to the waitress. He grabs her and
starts to waltz her around. She laughs, enjoying it. The
other four watch this, then look at one another. Avner gets
to his feet, then pulls Robert up, and they start to dance,
Robert heavy, stumbling a little. Hans joins them, throwing
his arms around their shoulders. Avner pulls Cari in. Steve
leaves the waitress, joins the others. They dance a kind of
heavy-footed hora out of time to the bad Italian pop. As
they dance, awkward, self-conscious, a closeness settles in.

69 EXT. A STREET IN PARIS - DAY 69

A small side street in the Marais. Tony and Avner are
standing outside a shop, waiting.
Louis, a Frenchman, slightly younger than Avner, arrives on
foot. Tony introduces the two. It's all quite friendly.
Tony whispers something to Louis, then gets into a car
waiting by the curb. The car drives off. Louis takes
Avner's arm and leads him away.

70 INT. A VEGETABLE MARKET/CAFE - DAY 70

,

Avner is shopping with Louis. Louis has

:..
a
shopping list and
is filling a macrame carry sack with vegetable.
LOUIS
Our service has been satisfactory?
AVNER
Pricey.
LOUIS
A Jew and a Frenchman. We could
haggle forever.
AVNER
I'm not a Jew.
Louis nods, smiling. He shows Avner the shopping list.
LOUIS
What do you suppose a "ramson" is?
AVNER
It's a kind of wild leek. Not in
season. Garlic will do.
LOUIS
My papa sometimes loses track of
the seasons. I know nothing about
food, why does he make me shop?
Louis hands Avner the shopping list. As they walk and talk,
Avner hands Louis vegetables, consulting the list. Louis
puts them in the carry sack.
LOUIS
You're wondering if I'm French
Intelligence.
AVNER
Or CIA. Or KGB.
LOUIS
Or an agent with a profitable
sideline in information. I could
be anybody. You could be anybody
too. Identity: That's the boring
part. Here's what isn't boring: as
long as you don't work for any
government --
AVNER
I'm in private business.
LOUIS
Rich Americans, I heard. I'm in
private business too. My family.
We can locate almost anyone, for
anyone, anywhere, and we're
ideologically promiscuous. We love
everyone. Or hate everyone, I get
my feelings confused. If you're
not working for any government: We
know or we find. We don't find,
you don't pay.
Louis takes a photo out of his bookbag. He slides the photo
over to Avner. Avner looks down at it.
LOUIS (CONT'D)
Mahmoud Hamshari.
A beat. Avner turns the picture over. There's information
written on the reverse. Louis hands Avner a series of black-
and white photos, showing Hamshari leaving his apartment,
getting into a car, talking with colleagues in front of the
Arab League headquarters. Avner examines these as Louis
talks.
LOUIS
He's one of your famous names, yes,
Monsieur. ..?
 AVNER
Franz Storsch.
Avner hands Louis a folded copy of Le Monde. Louis looks
inside, removes a fat envelope, puts it in the carry sack
amidst the vegetables.
LOUIS
Please call me Louis.

71 INT. A CONFERENCE ROOM IN A HOTEL, TRIPOLI - DAY 71

At a long table behind microphones, facing a mob of reporters
and cameras, Jamal al-Gashey, Adnan al-Gashey and Mohammed
Safady, three of the Palestinians from Munich, are seated,
their lawyer standing behind them. The press conference is
in English, with someone translating over into French. al-
Gashey is reading a statement.
J A W AL-GASHEY
What we did in Munich is the
beginnmg, only the begmning. If
justice is not done for our people,
for the Palestinian people, .further
acts of violence, the people's
justice, wlll occur.

7 1A CUT TO:
A television screen: Al-Gashey concludes his statement:
J W AL-GASHEY
We are not acting alone. There are
thousands, millions with us.

72 INT. A SAFE HOUSE IN PARIS - DAY 72

Hans, Carl and Steve, in overcoats, suitcases behind them,
havinq just arrived, are standina behind a couch on which
~vner-andRobert are seated. ~ h & 're watching-the
television.
ROBERT
A Lufthansa jet was hijacked coming
from Damascus. The hijackers
demanded the release of the three
killers who survived Munich. The
Germans agreed. Instantly.
They're free. See? They're in
Libya now.
a 72A CUT TO:

The television screen, which shows an enormous crowd of

people in Tripoli gathered to welcome the three fedayeen.

72 CONTC(lbllT TO: 72 CONT'D.

STEVE
(to Carl)
No qualms about rejoicing on their
side, huh? Look at that! They're
movie stars!
(to Avner)
We should go to Tripoli and kill
them.
AVNER
We don't go to Arab countries. We
stick with the names we've been
given.
Silence. Avner produces a photo. Everyone looks at it and
then looks back to the television, torn.
AVNER
Mahmoud Hamshari.

729 CUT BACK TO:

On the television,
ANOTHER JOURNALIST
(OS, from the TV)
What do you think you achieved by
killing the Israeli athletes?
As Adnan al-Gashey answers in Arabic, his lawyer translates:
LAWYER
We have ... made our voice heard by
the world.

INT. MAHMOUD HAMSHARI'S APARTMENT, PARIS - DAY

Hamshari, 50s, dapper, professorial, is seated, being
interviewed by a journalist who is revealed to be Robert,
smoking a cigarette, playing a tape of the released
terrorists' lawyer saying:
 LAWYER ( V . O . ON TAPE:)
We have made our voice heard by the
universe, or... the world, who was
not hearing before.
Robert ciicks off the tape recorder.
MAHMOUD HAMSHARI
What he meant by this is that the
world will begin hearing us. We
are for twenty-four years the
world's largest refugee population,
our homes taken from us, living in
camps, no future, no food, nothing
decent for our children.
Mrne. Hamshari walks in, smiling at Robert.
ROBERT
Was the attack in Munich justified?
MAHMOUD HAMSHARI
The PLO condemns attack on
civilians --
MAHMOUD HAMSHARI MME. HAMSHARI
-- though for twenty-four Tell your newspaper that, *
years our civilians have been about, about all the years *
attacked by the Israelis. and years of Palestinian
blood, spilled by Israel, and *
who mourns for us? *
MAHMOUD HAMSHARI
Israel just bombed two refugee
camps in Syria and Lebanon, two
hundred people killed, right after
Munich they did this, so is that --
m. HAMSHARI
It did not begin in Munich. And
where does it end? How will it ever
end?
MAHMOUD HAMSHARI (IN ARABIC)
Please, Marie-Claude, whose
interview is this?
MME. HAMSHARI (FRGNCH)
It" your interview, I'm just
pointing out something that --
 MAHMOUD HAMSHARI (ARABIC)
I'm perfectly capable of covering
all the essential --
Robert suddenly looks at his watch.
ROBERT
Oh, Damn! Doctor, may I, please,
your telephone, may I... I must
call my editor, I'm sorry --
MAHMOUD HAMSHARI
Oh yes, yes you said you. .. Yes,
this way, please, here's the
phone. ..
~amsharileads Robert to the phone. He leaves Robert dialing
the phone and goes to another room, speaking in French to his
wife.
As Robert dials he lifts the phone and writes down on his pad
the model serial number. He places the phone on the pad; he
outlines the phone's base, then measures its height with his
fingers and makes marks on the pad corresponding to this
measurement.
A young girl comes into the room, sits down at the piano and
starts doing practice pieces, shyly watching Robert while she
plays. Robert draws in deep on his cigarette, getting her
attention. He pops his eyes, puffs his cheeks, then blasts
smoke through his nose, a dragon! The girl rolls her eyes,
suppressing a smile, gets up from the piano and leaves the
room, trying to look completely unimpressed.

EXT. OUTSIDE HAMSHARI'S APARTMENT, PARTS - MORNING 74

Mme. Hamshari and the girl, Amina, carrying a schoolbag,
leave the building and get into a parked car.
Across the street, a van is parked, marked with the France
Telecom logo.

INT. INSIDE THE PHONE UTILITIES VAN - MORNING 75

Steve, Carl, Robert and Avner, dressed in France Telecom
repair uniforms, Steve at the wheel. They watch.Mme Hamshari
and Amina drive away, , on their way to Amina's school.
@ 76 INT. INSIDE HAMSHARI'S APARTMENT - MORNING
No one's home. Suddenly the front door pops open, Robert
forcing it slightly, a bent wire in the lock.
Carl stands behind him clutching a valise, very very
gingerly.
ROBERT
You don't have to baby it, it can't
go off unless I push ...
Robert takes a bakelite box with a toggle switch on it out of
his pocket. He flicks the switch. Carl drops the valise.
Robert catches it.
ROBERT (CONT'D)
.And the switch only works after
someone picks up the receiver.
CARL
(badly scared, VERY
angry: )
That isn't... funny you stupid --
ROBERT
Sorry, sorry...
CARL
I hope you know what you're doing.
Robert goes to Hamshari's phone. Carl and Avner watch as he
starts to install the phone bomb.
AVNER
(with a slight smile,
quietly, to Carl:)
Do you think I know what I'm doing?
Carl considers this.
CARL
This man, we don't know what he
did, specifically?
AVNER
Hamshari arranged the attempt to
kill Ben-Gurion in Copenhagen a few
years ago. He's organizing for
Fatah in France.
c m
Organizing.
 AVNER
Yes.
CARL
And in Tel Aviv, they showed you
the evidence for this?
AVNER
Not evidence, no, it was more...
"Here ' s the story."
I believe them. Absolutely. Don't
you?
Carl doesn't answer.
AVNER
This is war, a crisis, you don't
always have to, to...
CARL
Think.
AVNER
scrutinize every -- Yeah, think.
You want to wire Ephraim demanding
evidence, you're on your own.
ROBERT
I'm done.
AVNER
Good.
(to Carl: )
Don't think about it.
Robert demonstrates: He lifts the receiver on the phone, and
a light on a remote control device lights up.
ROBERT
I see the light, I flip the switch.
And... well, you know.

EXT. PHONE BOOTH, AROUND THE CORNER FROM HAMSHARI'S A P A R T m

BUILDING, PARIS - MORNING
Carl is in the phone booth, pretending to talk on the phone,
depressing the hang-up button.
At the next corner, Avner is at a kiosk, browsing through the
magazines.
77, INT. INSIDE A FIAT, THE STREET IN FRONT OF HAMSHARI'S 77A
APARTMZNT, PARIS - MORNING
Around the corner, down the street, across from the
apartment, a Fiat is parked. Steve is in the driver's seat.
Robert's in the passenger seat, holding the remote control
device on his lap. Hans is in the back seat.

77% EXT. IN FRONT OF HAMSHARI'S APARTMENT BUILDING - MORNING 773

Mme. Hamshari and Amina come out and get into a car parked in
front of the building. Amina is carrying a schoolbag.
Avner up the street at the kiosk is watching. He nods to
Carl, who nods back.

77C INT. INSIDE THE VAN - MORNING 77C

Hans, Robert and Steve watch Mme. Hamshari and Amina drive
away.
Steve looks up the street at Avner at thekiosk. Avner,
looking up at Carl, takes his hatmoff.-!'
STEVE
Our leader has doffed his
chapeau ... M. Hamshari, the grim
reaper is now dialing your number

77D EXT. THE STREET OUTSIDE HAMSHAPJ'S APARTMENT - MORNING 77D

A large moving truck pulls up, completely cutting off the
Fiat's view of the apartment building.
Avner runs down the street, past the truck, looking in at the
bored driver, who's obviously settled in for a long stop; and
then he crosses the street to the Fiat.
AVNER
Is it blocking the signal, will the
remote work?
Robert holds up the remote device; the toggle switch is
taped,
ROBERT
I don't know, I... we'll see,
probably it'll be OK.
 STEVE
Go tell the truck, give him some
cash and get him to move.
HANS
Get back to your position, you
can't start improvising now, go
back to the corner!
ROBERT
It's a powerful radio, urn, thing,
it, it's fine, I think.
While Avner and the others are talking, they don't see Mme.
Hamshari's car, on the other side of the truck has come back
down the street, in reverse. Amina gets out of the idling
car and runs back Into the apartment building.

77E EXT. THE STREET OUTSIDE HAMSHARI'S APARTMENT - MORNING 77E

Avner returns to the kiosk; as he does he nods to Carl.

Carl starts to dial the phone.

77F I N T . HAMSHARI'S APARTMENT BUILDING - MORNING

Arnina runs up the stairs

77G EXT. T m STREET OUTSIDE HAMSHARI'S APARTMENT - MORNING 77G

Carl continues to dial.

7 7H INT. I N THE CORXIDOR TO THE HAMSHARI APARTMENT - MORNING 7 7 H

Amina runs to her apartment door.

771 EXT. THE STREET OUTSIDE HAMSHARI'S APARTMENT - MORNING 771

Carl finishes dialling. The phone starts to ring.

773 I N T . I N THE BEDROOM I N ?iAMSHARI'S APARTMENT - MORNING 775

Harnshari is putting on his shirt as W n a runs into the room.

AMINA (AR98IC)
Mormny forgot her glasses.
 The phone rings. She goes to her mother's vanity and takes a
pair of glasses frorr, a drawer. She runs to the phone.
AMINA (AWIBIC)
I'll get it, Daddy.
She picks up the phone. A slight hum.

77K INT. PHONE BOOTH - MORNING 77R

Carl, hearing the phone being lifted, raise his finger as a
signal to Avner.
Avner looks down the street to the front door of the
apartment building. He sees Mme. Hamshari's car. It
registers that Amina is no longer in the car. Avner snoots a
quick panicked glance up at the window of Hamshari's
apartment, realizing suddenly what's happened.

77L EXT. THE PHONE BOOTH - MORNING 77L

Carl hears someone pick up the phone. He starts to ask if
s ,.Hmshariwhen he hears Amina's voice.
it.', . ..
AMINA'S VOICE
Hello?

77M INT. INSIDE THE FIAT - MORNING 77M

The indicator light on Robert's remote lights up. Robert
starts to move the tape off the toggle switch. He can't get
the tape off.

77N EXT. THE STREET OUTSIDE HAMSHARI'S APARTMENT - MORNING 77N

Avner runs towards the Fiat. Behind him, across the street,
Carl has dropped the receiver and is running as well across
the street towards the Fiat.

770 INT. INSIDE THE FIAT - MORNING 770

Robert is fumbling, having trouble getting the tape off the
detonator switch. Steve and Hans are anxiously watching him.

7 7P INT. IN THE I3AMSHARI'S APARTMENT - MORNING 77P

Amina is holding the phone.
 AMINA
Hello? Hello?
(to her father:)
No one is saying anything.
Hamshari approaches the phone.

778 EXT. THE STREET OUTSIDE HAMSHARI'S APARTMENT - MORNING 77Q

Robert has peeled the tape off and puts his thumb on the
switch. Suddenly Carl and Avner appear, pounding on the
car's closed windows. Hans reaches over and stops Robert's
thumb with his hand.
Carl and Avner are frozen, pressed against the windows.
Avner draws his hand across his throat, meaning "aborr."

77R INT. IN THE BEDROOM, HAMSHARI'S APARTMENT - MORNING 77R

m i n a looks up to her father.
AMINA (ARABIC)
Nobody is saying anything?
Hamshari takes the phone.
HAMSHARI
Hello?
(in ARABIC:)
Hello?
He hangs up.

775 EXT. HAMSHARI'S STREET - MORNING 77s

Amina comes out of the building and gets into the car,
handing her mother a pair of sunglasses, which her mother
puts on as she drives away.

77T EXT. ON THE STREET, OUTSIDE THE VAN - MORNING 77T

Hans Robert and Steve inside the van and Carl and Avner
outside on the pavement watch Mme. Hamshari and Amina drive
away. The other four all turn to Avner, who looks up at the
Hamshari apartment.
 77U INT. IN THE BEDROOM IN HAMSHAilI'S APARTMENT - MORNING 77U
Hamshari is tying his tie as the phone rings. He looks at it.
The phone rings again. He answers it.
HAMSHARI
Hello?

7 7V EXT. PHONE BGOTB - MORNING 77V

CARL
Mahmoud Hamshari?

77W EXT. THE STREET OUTSIDE HAMSHARI'S APARTMENT -MORNING 77W

The sound of an explosion, but dull -- people look up,
confused. The glass in the window of Hamshari's apartment
seems to bulge outwards. Thousands of cracks appear; the
glass holds.

78-91 OMIT 78-91

a 9, INT. A SAFE HOUSE IN PARIS - AFTERNOON

CLOSE UP on a child's wind-up toy, a tin clown which rolls on
a ball across a tabletop, moving beautifully till it loses
its balance and falls over. Robert, thoroughly wretched,
picks up the toy, pries it open and tinkers with the weights
inside.
Steve's watching TV and flipping through a magazine. Avner
is grinding herbs in a pestle, preparing dinner. Hans is
again working on the receipts. It's silent.
Carl arrives.
CARL
He's at L'Hopital Cochin. I don't
know how badly we hurt him, they
aren't saying.
STEVE
(to Robert:;
Why did you put a goddamned
firecracker in that phone?!
 ROBERT
I d i d n ' t want t o blow up t h e
b u i l d i n g ! What do you want from
me? !
STEVE
An Arab c o r p s e .
Robert goes back t o h i s work, m i s e r a b l e . Hans works on t h e
receipts. He f i n i s h e s .
HANS
Another two hundred thousand
d o l l a r s , more o r less, t o
e l i m i n a t e t a r g e t number Xwo.
STEVE
If h e ' s been e l i m i n a t e d . W e should
s t i c k w i t h guns.
AVNER
No one n o t i c e s a s h o o t i n g . Bombs
accomplish a double o b j e c t i v e :
E l i m i n a t i n g t a r g e t s , and t e r r i f y i n g
the terrorists.
STEVE
That only works when t h e bombs
work.
Robert s t a n d s a b r u p t l y , grabs h i s c o a t and h e a d s f o r t h e
door.
AVNER
Stay! T h a t ' s an o r d e r !
Robert l e a v e s , c l o s i n g t h e door behind him.

OMITTED

OMITTED

OMITTED

OMITTED

OMITTED
a 98 OMITTED

99 INT. THE SAFE HOUSE, FRANKFURT - MORNING 99

Carl is on the phone. A television is on, and he's watchinq
it as he talks.
CARL
They discovered seven in a mail
room near the embassy in, ah,
Earl's court.

100 INT. A MAIL-SORTING ROOM, POST OFFICE, EARL'S COURT - DAYlOO

Detectives and soldiers, some with guns, two holding bomb-
sniffing dogs on leashes, are looking on while an army sapir,
head-to toe in canvas and wicker armor, with great care is
using tongs to extract another manila envelope from a stuffed
mail bin. He places the envelope on the floor, alongside six
others.

101 EXT. A PAYPHONE NEAR AN AIRPORT - DAY

Avner is talking on the phone to Carl.
ArnR
I guess they missed one.

102 EXT. THE ISRAELI EMBASSY, LONDON - MORNING 102

A handsome brick mansion at the end of a courtyard off a
quiet London street. The Israeli flag is flying.
CARL (V.O.)
Right after Channukah, so I guess
there was a big pile-up of mail,
and they got careless.

103 INT. AN OFFICE IN THE EMBASSY - MORNING 103

The attache for Agricultural imports, Dr. Ami Sachori, is

standing at his desk. He is sorting through a large pile of
mail and looking over a report at the same time. He picks up
a slightly-larger-than-letter size manila envelope. He tears
it open. The enveiope explodes, hurling Sachori in the air
over his desk.
104 OMIT

105 INT. THE SAFE HOUSE, FRANKFURT - MORNING 105

Carl on the phone, watching the television. On the TV, the
Israeli ambassador to Britain.
THE ISRAELI AMBASSADOR
It has become much easier for these
terrorist groups to operate in
Europe. They take advantage of
your open societies and your
hospitality. And, ah, we believe
that unless there is, there are
strong concerted anti-terrorist
measures, this menace will grow for
you as it has for us.
CARL THE IS-LI AMBASSADOR
They've found other letters And, ah, there should be no
in Israel of course, Canada, sympathy for these evil and
Argentina, Vienna, Kinshasa, perverted men -- that is the
Paris and Brussels. Dozens of message of.Munich, which has
them, mostly mailed from the been reaffirmed by the murder *
Netherlands. It's all Black in my embassy this morning.
September.

106 EXT. A PAYPHONE NEAR AN AIRPORT - DAY 106

Avner is on the phone to Carl
AVNER
It's a response, then. To
Hamshari.
107 INT. THE SAFE HOUSE, FRANKFURT - MORNING
c m
And to Zwaiter. They're talking to
us. We're in dialogue now.
Where are you?

108 EXT. A PAYPHONE NEAR AN AIRPORT - DAY

Avner on the phone.
AVNER
In New York, I'm checking on a
lead. I'll call you back.
 Avner hangs up. He walks away from the phone. The sign on
the phone booth is in Hebrew.

109 INT. CUSTOMS DESK, LOD AIRPORT - DAY 109

An Israeli customs officer is examining a West German
passport.
CUSTOMS AGENT
What brings you to Israel, Mr.
Storsch?
AVNER
Business. And to see the Holy
Sepulcher.
The agent hands Avner his passport.
CUSTOMS AGENT
Have a pleasant stay.

110 INT. THE MATERNITY FLOOR, A HOSPITAL IN TEL AVIV - DAY 110
Avner ' s mother, a woman &"her 50s, disappointed, unhappy
face, is waiting with Avner, who is a wreck. Other expectant
fathers are waiting too.
AVNER'S MOTHER
Are you going to see your father?
AVNER
(shaking his head "no")
Why is this taking so long?!?
AVNER'S MOTHER
It isn't fast. We have the best
hospitals in the world.
When you were born, your father was
elsewhere. I was alone.
AVNER
He was in prison.
AVNER ' S MOTHER
Should you be here? Aren't you on
duty?
AVNER
You going to turn me in?
Bow is he?
 AVNER'S MOTHER
I don't visit your father so much.
Wilma lets him yell at her all the
time. She depresses me.
AVNER
How are you?
AVNER'S MOTKER
I'm managing, don't worry about me.
A W R
Ma.. .
AVNER ' S MOTHER
I'm proud of what you're doing.
AVNER
You don't know what I'm doing.
They look at each other. Avner looks exhausted, and sad.
AVNER'S MOTHER (CONT'D)
I look at you, I know everything I
need to know.

111 INT. DAPHNA'S HOSPITAL ROOM

Avner and Daphna and Geula, the baby.
AVNER
She's frighteningly ugly.
DAPHNA
She takes after you.
He stands, walks to the door of the room, looks through the
little window in the door at his mother, who is sitting in a
chair in the hallway, looking lonely and grim.
He goes back to Daphna's bed.
AVNER
I want you to move.
For a time. I've arranged a place,
for us, in Brooklyn.
I can't come back here again, not
for... I don't know. I can see you
there more often, and her.
Daphna iooks at Geula.
 DAPHNA ( CONT ' D )
I have my family here, and your
parents.
AVNER
YOU want my parents to help raise
her? Look what they did to me.
DAPHNA
Don't you want your daughter to be
an Israeli, Avner?
AVNER
She'll always be an Israeli.
DAPHNA
Not in Brooklyn. She'll just be
another homeless Jew.
She strokes his face.
DAPHNA
You're not so terrible.
AVNER
I can't do what I'm d o m g if I
can't see you, I can't ...
DAPHNA
What are you doing?
Silence.
DAPHNA ( CONT ' D )
Don't do it, then.
Avner, this is our home.
AVNER
You're the only home I've ever had.
Daphna cracks up.
DAPHNA
Oh, man, that is so corny!
She can't stop laughing.
AVNER
it wasn't easy to say that!
DAF'HNA
I bet! God damn. Why'd I have to
marry a sentimentalist?
You're ruining my life!
112 OMITTED

113 INT. INSIDE A CAR PARKED ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE HOTEL113
OLYMPIC, ON THE CYPRUS COAST NEAR NICOSIA - DAY
Hans, Steve and Avner are watching Hussein Abad al-Chir,
business suit, sunglasses and a checkered kaffiyeh, stepping
into a limousine accompanied by three men with Russian faces.
Hans shows the others a photo. They look from the photo to
the man getting in the car.
STEVE
Uh oh, waistline bulge, he has a
gun.
HANS
As do the Russians.
AVNER
~ t ' sdefinitely him.
HANS
Husseln Abad al-Chlr.
His room is next to Israeli
newlyweds. They're marrying in
Cyprus because she's not Jewish.
STEVE
(mock horror)
A mixed marriage! A shonde!
AVNER
OK, yeah, but you now, let's not
blow them up.
STEVE
Robert's making the bomb. They have
nothing to fear.

114 INT. A SAFE HOUSE IN NICOSIA - DAY, PERHAPS 114

The curtains are drawn. Lights intensely illuminate Robert
at a table wiring six bombs together. He has a checklist and
a hand-drawn diagram near him on the floor, which he consults
as he wires. Steve, Hans, Carl and Avner are watching.
ROBERT
The KGB brings him home every
evening.
iMORE )
 ROBERT (cont'd)
He turns on the light, he
undresses, he turns off the light,
he gets into bed.
We blow up the bed.
CARL
I knew a field agent who got too
scared to sleep in his bed. So
every night he slept on the floor
of his closet. He still does. Every
night. Sleeps in closets.
STEVE
Be sure to include that anecdote in
your memoirs, Carl.
ROBERT
If dl-Chir sleeps in his closet
we're in trouble. If he gets into
bed, his weight arms tine device.
When we see his lights go out, I
wait a bit, hit the remote and. ..

115 INT. AL-CHIR'S ROOM IN THE HOTEL OLYMPIC - LATE AFTERNOON115

Steve is holding up the mattress of the bed, sweating under
its sagging weight, while Robert, on his knees, is carefully
placing the bombs, in their frame, under the mattress, and
wiring the detonators to a wire that dangles out over the
bedframe with a lightbulb on the end of it. Carl guards the
door, gun drawn.
A light knocking outside on the door. Everyone freezes. Carl
opens it and admits Avner.
AVNER
I checked in to the room next door.
CARL
Why?
AVNER
There are balconies. When I see
him get in bed 1-11signal by
switching off the light.
CARL
If the bomb's too powerful you
could be killed.
AVNER
That won't happen, right?
 AVNER (CONT'D)
Robert?
ROBERT
(concentrating, not
listening:)
It won't, no.
Robert helps Steve lower the mattress very slowly onto the
bomb. Avner and Carl watch, not breathing. The mattress is
now resting on the bomb. Robert checks the lightbulb. Ic's
dark. He smiles, nods. He motions to Steve and they raise
the mattress again. He makes adjustments on the bomb.
CARL
(softly, to Avner)
A boy or a girl?
Avner looks at him, surprised.
AVNER
A girl.
CARL
Mazeltov, Avner.
Avner nods, pleased, missing his family.
c m
Did you see the papers this
morning? News from Paris. Dr.
Harnshari succumbed to his wounds.
He's dead.
So again, rnazeltov, Avner.
Robert and Steve lower the mattress.
ROBERT
Now someone has to test it.
AVNER
Test it?
ROBERT
Lie on the bed. If the bomb's
placed correctly the bulb will
light. So who wants to test it?
STEVE
(to Robert:)
Why don't you test it?
 ROBERT
It won't blow up.
(a beat)
Prove that you trust me. One of
you, get in the bed.
CARL
Steve, you do it.
Steve looks at Robert and flings himself in the air and onto
the mattress. The bulb lights.

116 EX?. THE BALCONIES ON THE FIFTE FLOOR OF THE HOTEL OLYMPIOld
NIGHT
Avner is standing on the balcony. The room next to his is
dark, and the room to the right of that room is lit. Below
him, on the street, a car honks its horn twice. He goes to
the railing and looks down. A limo is pulling up.
Wearing a bathrobe, the young bride in the room one over from
Avner's comes out on her balcony for a smoke. She sees Avner
and smiles at him. Her husband comes out, clad only in pajama
bottoms. He nods t o Avner, thenlputs his arms around his
bride. They look at to sea; hekisses her neck. Avner wants
to look and look and is embarrassed and looks away.
The lights in the room next to his are switched on. Al-Chir
is in his room.
Silence, the sound of a brief phone call in Arabic. The
bridegroom is whispering something to the bride. Avner,
horny, lonely, stares at them.
Al-Chir steps out onto his balcony. Avner is startled.
Al-Chir nods at the bridegroom and bride. They smile at him
and then the bridegroom leads the bride back into their room.
Laughter comes from inside, followed by music. Their lights
go out.
Moans and groans start to drift out. Avner stares, al-Chir
stares, both men fascinated, at the dark open doorway of the
newlyweds' room.
Al-Chir turns to smile at Avner.
HUSSEIN ABAD Ai-CEIR
Good evening.
AVNER
oh, uh, good evening.
 HUSSEIN ABAD AL-CHIR
Beautiful night.
Where are you from? I can't place
the --
AVNER
Xoln .
HUSSEIN ABAD AL-CHIR
Yes? I wouldn't have guessed, it,
I thought perhaps a Swede. I taught
in Sweden. Near Eastern languages.
AVNER
Really?
HUSSEIN ABAD AL-CHIR
Teaching Lebanese immigrant women
how to clean houses in Swedish.
Surprisingly remunerative. And
such a beautiful country!
The sounds of love-making increase in volume.
HUSSEIN ABAD AL-CHIR (CONT'D)
Were you here last night?
AVNER
No, I just checked in, just
arrived.
HUSSEIN ABAD AL-CHIR
Don't plan to sleep. They keep at
it till dawn.
I loved Sweden, I've loved all the
places I've lived, but there's
nothing like the Mediterranean. If
you were born within sight of it
you can't live without it.
Al-Chir takes a pack of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket.
He takes out a cigarette, offers one to Avner who shakes his
head "no."
AVNER
Where were you born?
HUSSEIN ABAD AL-CHIR
A town that no longer exists.
Al-Chir puts the cigarette in his mouth and pats his pockets
looking for a match. Avner takes out a lighter, holds it out
towards Al-Chir, who leans over his side of the baicony.
 Avner flicks the lighter and, using his hand to shield the
flame from the wind, lighcs al-Chir's cigarette. Al-Chir
nods thanks, inhales, exhales.
HUSSEIN ABAD AL-CHIR
But the sea is still here.
The sex sounds from the newlyweds' suite become downright
raucous.
HUSSEIN ABAD AL-CHIR (CONT'D)
There! For hours! Take a sleeping
pill if you have one. You want to
borrow one of mine?
AVNER
I can sleep through anything.
HUSSEIN ABAD AL-CHIR
Pleasant dreams.
He goes in his room. Then the lights go off.
Avner moves closer to the balcony railing where it abuts the
hotel wall. He hauls himself up, then leans in. He hears al-
Chir moving about, singing softly to himself. A tap running.
Peeing. A toilet flush. Then the sound of a man lowering
himself into bed with a sigh.
Avner leans further in. He can just see the foot of the bed,
and al-Chir's legs sliding under the bedclothes. He lowers
himself back to his own balcony, goes in his room, switches
off the light.
A beat, and then an enormous explosion; the wall Avner's room
shares with al-Chir's is pushed in and falls over, intact,
knocking Avner back onto his bed. The fan in the ceiling
above is sheered off and falls, nearly hitting Avner.

117 EXT. THE HOTEL OLYMPIC - NIGHT 117

Smoke and flames explode from al-Chir's room across his
balcony.

118 EXT. THE STREET IN FRONT OF THE HOTEL OLYMPIC - NIGHT 118
Glass and plaster and stone rain down on the street, bouncing
off a car in which Steve and Carl are sitting.
Robert and Hans are in the car behind Steve and Carl's car,
Hans driving, Robert holding the detonator. The car lurches
forward, preparing to drive off as planned.
 It screeches to a stop amidst the rain of debris as Carl
jumps out of the first car. Carl slams his hand on the hood
of Hans's car.
CARL
GO !
Hans pulls the car out and drives off as Carl runs to the
hotel.

119 INT. A W R ' S ROOM, HOTEL OLYMPIC -NIGHT 119

Avner is trapped in a space between his bed and the wall,
which is now leaning against the opposing wall, pictures on
it dangling from their hooks. Avner struggles to get out.

120 INT. THE FIFTH FLOOR KAtLWAY OF THE HOTEL OLYMPIC - NIGHT120
The hall is thick with smoke. Avner, covered in plaster
dust, coughing, is emerging from his room.
To the left of al-Chir's doorless room, the newlyweds force
their door and stumble out, naked, covered in dust. He's
bleeding from a nasty cut on his forehead, and she's
momentarily blinded by plaster dust and smoke. The groom
turns to Avner .
GROOM
Oh my God! Oh my God!
AVNER
Are you alright?
GROOM
What... what happened??!!
BRIDE
I can't see!
The groom wipes at her eyes with his thumbs. Avner goes into
their room and comes out with sheets. They wrap themselves.
AVNER
Get downstairs, the stairs, here
He pushes them toward the stairs. The door to the stairwell
opens and Carl, carrying a fire extinguisher, rushes past
Avner, their eyes meeting. Avner leads the couple to the
stairs as Carl runs into al-Cnir's room.
 INT. IN AL-CtiIR'S ROOM, THE HOTEL OLYMZDIC - NIGHT 121

Smoke and dust. The room is utterly destroyed. Carl blasts

the fire extinguisher at small flames. He gropes for the
light switch, flicks it.
The crystal chandelier, a burnt and twisted mess of metal,
hanging by wires, lights up -- one or two bulbs are intact.
An arm and a section of torso are dangling from the
chandelier.
Carl switches off the light as Avner comes in. Carl wipes
the extinguisher clean with his handkerchief, then drops it
on the floor.
CARL
Let's get out of here.

122 EXT. ABOARD A SMALL FISHING BOAT ON THE OPEN SEA - NIGHT 122
The team is huddled over a thermos on the deck. They speak
in whispers.
CARL
. t

It was too powerful, it could have -

STEVE
Target number three. Outcome not in
doubt !
CARL
(to Robert:)
The ceiling in the lobby cracked!
You nearly demolished the -- You
could have killed Avner. And --
ROBERT
The plastique wasn't what I asked
for, it couldn't have been the
grade I specified, someone changed
the markings on the explosives.
STEVE CARL
What does it matter, we got (to Robert)
Black September's contact What do you mean, someone
with the KGB! changed the --
(to Steve:) *
Shut up, piease. *
HANS
Louis provided the plastique,
right?
 AVNER
Yes. Why?
A beat.
HANS
(to Avner:)
Why are we trusting him?
CARL
We have no idea who he is.
AVNER
He's finding our targets.
HANS
Yes, but --
AVNER
Without him we'd be nowhere in
this.
ROBERT
The plastique was much more
powerful than what I requested.
Someone changed the label.
HANS
For all we know, Louis works for
the ?LO, and they're using us to do
internal housecleaning.
AVNER
That's --
STEVE
Whose fishing boat is this?
Everyone looks at Avner.
AVNER
Louis arranged it.
Silence. Steve takes out his . 2 2 , undoes the safety, puts it
back in its holster. The boat sails on in the dark.

123 EXT. THE PICTURE GLASS WINDOW OF A KITCHFiN DESIGN AND SUP=
STORE ON A FANCY STREET IN PARIS - NIGHT
It's late and misty. There are no pedestrians. Avner is
looking at a brightly lit and very beautiful Swedish-Modern
kitchen set up for display.
 He's tired, but staring at the kitchen with real longing, his
eyes traveling over every inch of it, drinking in what it
means: luxury, security, domesticity, Daphna -- everything
he's aching for.
124 Avner's hungry, weary face is reflected by the glass. The124
kitchen dims and merges with another image, apparently
reflected at first then growing in sharpness and solidity:

124 OMITTED I24

125 OMITTED 125

126 OMITTED 126

126A OMITTED 126A

127 EXT. THE PICTURE GLASS WINDOW OF A KITCHEN DESIGN AND SUPBIZ'
STORE ON A FANCY STREET IN PARIS - NIGHT
Avner, watching in the glass, as the scene of carnage fades
away.
Louis is standing next to Avner. He has an Alsatian by the
leash. Avner turns to look at Louis, unfocused.
LOUIS
There was nothing wrong with the
explosive. Bomb makers are nervous,
which is understandable.
AVNER LOUIS
There's nothing wrong with my Fear makes them sloppy.
bomb maker, it was your --
LOUIS
We've found three more names for
you.
AVNER
Three?
Avner seems dismayed, as if someone's just put a heavy weight
on his back.
LOUIS
Yes, three. Thouqht you'd be
pleased.
 AVNER
I am. Who?
LOUIS
Kemal Nasser, Kemal Adwan and
Yussuf Najjer.
AVNER
That's -- Adwan and Abu Yussuf?
Where?
LOUIS
Lebanon. They're in Beirut.
AVNER
Beirut.
Nasser, Adwan and Najjer.
LOUIS
Serious characters.
AVNER
Extremely serious.
Avner thinks.
LOUIS
Smile, Monsieur Storsch. A second
Christmas !
AVNER
I'd like to pay you a little extra
for this, for these three names.
Six hundred thousand. Dollars.
A beat.
LOUIS (CONT'D)
Monsieur Storsch, my group, we
don't care much for governments.
Any governments. We don't work with
or for them. That's an absolute
condition of ... My theory. You
understand?
They look at each other.
LOUIS (CONT'D)
If I learned that your sudden
generosity was an attempt to buy
our acquiescence in your sharing my
information with, let us say... CIA
or MI6 or, or Mossad, even.
 AVNER
I don ' t work for --
LOUIS
Oh you have no idea who you work
for, trust me, you don't.
Lie to me and you will find me
abruptly unreachable. And unhappy.
AVNER
Let me buy you a drink.
LOUIS
you save your money. At these
prices, you're going to need it.

128 INT. THE SAFE HOUSE IN FRANKFURT - NIGHT 128

Ephraim, still in his coat, is standing amidst the team,
which is busy, everyone working like clockwork preparing
dinner. Avner is in the kitchen, assisted by Hans, simmering
a gravy, making spaetzle over a boiling pot, chopping dill.
Steve and Robert are setting the table, while Carl selects
.
and pours wine like a sommelier ,They're,now a family,
domesticated, concentrated, everyone knows what Avner expects
of them. Ephraim watches, awkward, out of place, intrigued.

129 INT. THE SAFE HOUSE IN FRANKFURT - NIGHT

The team is digging in: sliced lamb, a big bowl of boiled
potatoes, mint jelly, noodle soup, rolls, wine etc.. Ephraim
has the place of honor and his coat's off now, but he still
looks uncomfortable and out of place, picking at the food.
Next to Robert, sitting incongruously on the table, is a
little crane, exquisitely detailed, with a claw hammer
dangling from it. Ephraim glances at it from time to time --
everyone else ignores it, used to it.
EPHRAIM
It's obviously significant
information.
STEVE
Abu Yussef! He's like number three
in the whole Palestinian network,
it's like Arafat, Habash and him!
Of course he's significant, he's
the brains of the fedayeen!
 EPHilAIN
(overlapping Steve above:)
Thanks for the instruction. And
the enthusiasm. I know who he is.
STEVE
Next to Salalmeh, Abu Yussuf's the
worst guy we're after, right? And,
and Adwan plans all the actions in
the West Bank, right? We get the
significance! These are serious
targets! We want to go to Beirut.
EPHRAIM
NO. you keep out of the Arab
countries. Mossad and the army
will take care of it.
CARL
So much for no dead civilians.
EPHRAIM
[To Carl, grim: )
You need to control yourself.
(to Robert, irritated:)
What is that, that contraption?
ROBERT
Oh! It's just a --
AVNER
You can't send the army. We can't
allow that.
EPHRAIM
You can't allow it?
AVNER
Our source doesn't know we're
Mossad.
EPHRAIM
You aren't Mossad.
Robert turns a tiny crank. The crane wheels around to the
dish with he boiled potatoes. Robert turns another crank and
the crane's claw drops into the bowl, opening as it descends.
Another crank and the claw clamps around a potato. Robert
turns cranks and pulls levers until the little crane has
dropped the potato onto his plate. Ephraim stares at this,
incredulous. Then he decides to pretend it didn't happen.
 AVNER
If commandos go to Beirut, our
source will cut us off.
EPHRAIM
Why don't you and I go for a walk
and talk about this? Alone.
HANS
The food will get cold.
AVNER STEVE *
(Over Hans:) (Over Hans:) *
We have to go to Beirut. Three names! We're good at *
It's our information. It's this! We deserve this *
our job. chance !
*
EPHRAIM
That's touching. In a juvenile
sort of way.
Listen, you've done reasonably
well.
STEVE
"Reasonably"?!
EPHRAIM
You're spending a lot of money.
Well, we expected that.
The world's already forgetting
Munich.
STEVE
The world forgot before the
athletes were in their graves.
EPHRAIM
People are going to find it
difficult, connecting these bodies
with the crimes they committed.
This is ... unimaginably risky for
us. You understand that, yes? For
our country. Me being here with
you, now, is risky. An operation
like Beirut could become a big
problem.
AVNER
Let us do it and it won't be a
problem.
 EPHRAIM
Look, lots of people in Mossad
don't know about you. No one
knows. Everyone's asking "Who's
killing the fedayeen? Is it our
guys? Why weren't we told?" Big
egos, lots of screaming. Maybe I
can include... one or two of you,
but excluding Mossad, or the army,
is impossible. Accept it.
AVNER
We will, but our source won't.
EPHRAIM
Who's your source?
Carl and Avner look at one another. Carl smiles.
EPHRAIM (CONT' D)
(to Avner:)
It's time you told me. And that, by
the way, is not a request, it's an
order.
CARL
You can't order him, he doesn't
work for you.
EPHRAIM
(to Carl: )
Shut up.
(to Avner:)
I pay you, you work for me.
AVNER
I work for a metal box in a bank in
Geneva. The box pays me.
EPHRAIM
You want it to find it empty?
AVNER
I want you to let us do our work.
c m
You should be pleased, look how
eager we've gotten!
STEVE
Some of us were always eager.
 HANS
We've reached consensus that this
was a necessary thing to do, even
if it stretches the definition of
our mission a bit.
AVNER
We want to do what we've promised
to do, what we promised you and
Israel and our source.
While everyone's talking, Robert repeats the potato lift with
his crane. He drops the potato this time in Ephraim's plate.
Ephraim looks at the potato and then slams his hand down,
hard, on the table!
EPHRAIM
(losing it, screaming:)
WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU? WITH
ALL OF YOU? GROW UP AND DO IT
QUICK! THIS IS, WHAT? A GAME? A
FUCKING GAME! WHO HAS THE SOURCE,
WHERE ARE YOU GETTING YOUR
INFORMATION, GIVE ME HIS GODDAMNED
NUMBER.
HANS
I hope the old lady upstairs
enjoyed that. She's a little deaf
but I doubt she had any trouble
hearing you.
ROBERT
I think she's Leni Reifenstahl.
The lady upst--
STEVE
She's not Leni Reifenstahl.
(to Ephraim: )
He's not kidding, he thinks she's --
EPHRAIM
Give me the source and we'll let
you take part.
AVNER
Let us go to Beirut and use our
source and find the rest of the
~ do our job.
targets. L E US
 ROBERT
If she turns out to be Leni
Reifenstahl can we kill her?
Ephraim looks around the table, furious. Without a word he
stands, grabs his hat and coat and leaves.
CARL
Oh well. It was a good career.
ROBERT
I think our careers ended when we
accepted this job.
Don't you think? You heard him: No
one knows we're here. No one will
ever want to know.
I think my life ended when I took
this job.

130 EXT. TKE PARKING LOT FOR DOVE BEACH IN BEIRUT - LATE NIGH230
Four Zodiac rafts are nearing the shore. Twenty Sayeret
Matkal commandos are in the boat; some are in wetsuits, some
are dressed as tourists, male and female. The boats pull up
on beach. The commandos disembark. Sealed bags are opened
conraining shoes, pistols, grenades, knives and Uzis.
They move to the waiting cars and pile in. In the near
distance there's an outdoor restaurant, with a bandstand.
People are dancing and the band is playing top 40s hits, sung
in Arabic. The cars drive out onto the main drag of the Arab
Riviera: pre-1980s Beirut, beautiful hotels, casinos,
electric lights.

131 INT. THE PLYMOUTH STATION WAGON, BEIRUT - NIGHT 131

Robert drives, Avner beside him. In the seat behind them,
four Commandos, silent, huge, squeezed in uncomfortably.
Another commando in the back is preparing Uzis. One of the
commandos, disguised as a woman, early 30s, is stuffing hand-
grenades into his bra. This is Ehud Barak, the squad leader.
ONE OF THE COMMANDOS
Ow, Ehud, you don't make a pretty
woman.
BARAK
But I feel pretty,
. that's what
matters.
(to Avner, holding out his
hand: )
Ehud Barak.
 Avner reaches back, shakes his hand.
AVNER
Um, Daniel.
BARAX
Daniel what?
Avner smiles and shrugs. Barak looks at his men; they're
confused and suspicious.
ROBERT
You brought a lot of guns

132 EXT. RUE VERDUhi, BEIRUT - NIGHT 132

The other rental cars and the truck are waiting, with the
rest of the commandos, the old man and woman from the truck,
the other drivers -- all Mossad agents -- and Steve. The
plymouth station wagon and two other cars pull up behind an
apartment building. The commandos pile out.
The Plymouth's tailgate is opened and the U z ~ sare handed
out. Steve goes to Avner and Robert.
STEVE
A lot of guns, huh? To shoot three
guys
Avner nods, worried.

133 EXT. THE COURTYARD OF AN APARTMENT BUILDING, BEIRUT -- NIGHT33

Five Palestinian men, armed with old rifles and AK-47s, are
smoking, talking, standing guard. The commandos in drag
enter the courtyard. One of the Palestinians walks towards
them. The commandos draw silenced Berettas and shoot; the
Palestinians are shot before they can lift their guns. The
commandos use knives to make sure all five are dead. Behind
them, commandos in uniform, some with stockings pulled over
their faces, rush silently in, Avner, Robert and Steve among
them. Robert hesitates to watch the commandos dressed as
women finishing their grisly work.

134 INT. THIRD FLOOR IIALLWAY OUTSIDE ABU YUSSUF'S APARTMENT, 134
BEIRUT - NIGHT
An explosion, blowing the door off Abu Yussuf's apartment.
a 135 INT. SECOND FLOOR HALLWAY OUTSIDE KEMAL NASSER'S APARTMEN235
BEIRUT - NIGHT
Another explosion blows the door of Kemal Nasser's apartment
straight into his room.

136 INT. GRO'UND FLOOR HALLWAY OUTSIDE KEMAL ADWAN'S APARTMENTL36

BEIRUT - NIGHT
A group of commandos bursts round the corner, unexpectedly
encountering twenty armed Palestinian men. The commandos
mediately open fire with Uzis. The Palestinians are
scrambling over one another, shouting, trying to take aim,
blown to pieces by machine gun fire.

137 INT. KAMAL NASSER'S APARTMENT, BEIRUT - NIGHT 137

Commandos enter Nasser's apartment through the smoke. The
room, apparently unoccupied, has been shattered by the blast
that blew the front door into the room. The door has struck
and is covering what's left of a table. Dozens of pages of
paper, cov.ered with text, thrown into the air by the blast,
are fluttering down. Some of the pages are on fire. An
intelligence agent among the commandos is rushing about,
grabbing up the pages, blowing out flames and stuffing all
printed matter he can find into a satchel.
The commandos use flashlights to look through the smoke all
around the room, trying to find Nasser.
A COMMANDO
Where the fuck is he?
One of the commandos, standing by the front door, which is
now smashed up against the table, signals for the others to
stop looking. Gun at the ready, the commando flips the front
door over with his foot.
Nasser, in his thirties, a bloody mess, is barely conscious,
crushed under the door. The commandos look at him for a
moment. The one who's found Nasser gives a nod and then he
starts firing into Nasser's body; the other commandos follow
suit. Nasser's body jerks and dances as it's struck by
bullets. Then the shooting stops. The commando uses his foot
and slides the door over the corpse.

138 INT. K A W L ~ W ~ APARmNT,

' S BEIRUT - NIGHT 138
 Adwan, coughing and blind from the smoke, is rising from
sleep in his bed, the television on, what's left of his door
swinging from its hinges. Commandos are entering his room.
He gropes for his Kalashnikov, screaming with rage as the
commandos fire, their magnesium bullets driving him down on
to the bed. He fires off a round of bullets in the general
direction of his attackers, wounding one commando, perhaps
severely -- his fire provoking a dramatic increase in return
&ire. Adwan's body is shredded by the bullets. The mattress
F '

he's lying on bursts into flames.

139 INT. ABU YUSSUF'S Ap-ARTMENT, BEIRUT - NIGHT 139

Abu Yussuf is trying to rise, wounded by bullets and from
shrapnel from the bomb that tore off his door. His wife and
his teenaged son, holding a metal tube from a vaccuum
cleaner, are standing in an inner doorway, screaming. Two
commandos and Avner have entered the room, and the commandos
are raising their guns, aiming at the wounded man. Yussuf's
wife throws herself in front of her husband just as the
commandos fire.
AVNER
(to the commandos:)
NO! STOP!
But it's too fast, too late and the gunfire kills the woman
and her husband. Her bloody body topples onto his.
The boy raises the vacuum cleaner tube, growling, shaking,
crying. All the guns in the room swing in his direction. The
boy drops the tube, sinks to his knees and raises his arms in
surrender.

140 EXT. THE COURTYARD OF THE APARTMENT BUILDING, BEIRUT - NI-

It's a gruesome mess, smoky air, shouting, and bodies
scattered on the ground. Commandos rush out of the buildings.

141 EXT. THE STREET OUTSIDE THE APARTMENT BUILDING, BEIRUT - 141
NIGHT
Avner and Robert emerge from the courtyard of the building
into gunfire. In the apartment building across the street,
another firefight is in full force -- automatic weapon fire,
smoke pouring from a few windows, bodies of Palestinians
lying on the sidewalk in pools of blood. Avner and Robert
duck behind a bullet-riddled dumpster. A couple of Israeli
commandos are there already, strafing the upper windows of
the building with machine gun fire to provide cover for the
commandos who are running out the front door.
 A Sayeret Maktal Commando gives a signal with his right hand,
and the other commandos, and Robert and Avner, head for their
getaway rental cars. Other cars, burning, flipped on their
sides, block the street. A narrow escapeway through the
wreckage remains. The cars speed away.

142 OMITTED 142

143 EXT. OUTSIDE A COFFEEHOUSE IN PARIS - DAY i43

Avner is sitting at a table, waiting for Louis, exhausted,
nervous. He's been reading several French newspapers. He
checks his watch. He's been waiting a long time.
A big car pulls up, idling. The rear window rolls down.
Louis is inside. Avner stays at the table. Louis stays in
the car.
LOUIS
My papa would like to meet you.
AVNER
who?
LOUIS
My papa. He runs our little group.
A W R
I thought you ran the group.
LOUIS
Everybody works for someone.
A beat.
AVNER
I wasn't in Beirut
LOUIS
Someone was there. The Israeli
army, according to every newspaper
on earth.
(beat)
But you stayed away. After you paid
so extravagantly for the
information.
Louis opens the door and slides over, making room for Avner.
LOUIS
I don't like to keep my papa
waiting.
 AVNZR
I need to tell my people where I'm
going.
LOUIS
You don't know where you're going.
You'll need to wear this.
Louis takes a black sleep mask out of his pocket.
AVNZR
Go to hell, Louis, I'm not --
Louis slams the door shut.
LOUIS
(to the man behind him:)
We're done here.
The car starts to pull away from the curb. Avner stands up.
AVNER
Come on, Louis, it's crazy, you
don't expect me to --
, ,

The car starts to drive away. Avner has to chase it a

distance down the street. He catches up with it and slams
his hand on the back of the car; it stops and the rear door
opens again.
Avner hesitates, then gets in.

144 INT. LOUIS'S CAR - DAY

Louis holds out the mask. Avner takes it.
LOUIS
If you feel carsick, I brought
candied ginger.
AVNER
I have a strong stomach.
Avner puts on the mask. Blackness.

145 INT. LOUIS'S CAR - DAY 145

Avner's mask is roughly removed. h group of young children
are standing around the car door, looking in at him. One of
the kids is holding his mask. As Avner, blinking, gets out
of the car, the kids run off, chattering and giggling.
146 EXT. A FARMYARD, NEAR THE FAENCE ALPS - DAY
Very old stone barn, main house, sheds, a sheepfold, a
stable, ringed by spectacular mountains. Geese and a dogs
patrol the yard. The light is gorgeous, golden.
Avner walks towards the farmhouse and the sound of
conversation.

147 INT. INSIDE THE FARMHOUSE - DAY 147

Avner comes through the front door into a large common

room/kitchen -- a room from the Middle Ages but with modern
amenities, including in one corner a large commercial stove.
The room is full of adults and many children. Some of the
adults look like working farmers, some like small-time
business people. The driver of Avner's car and the large man
are drinking wine. Louis is in a corner, talking to a woman,
his sister Sylvie. Avner starts towards Louis when his
sleeve is tugged. He looks down. An old man in a battered
cap and coat, sitting on a stool, points towards the kitchen
area.
At a counter near the stove, Louis's Papa, in his vigorous
60s, is chopping vegetables. He glances up, gives Avner a
quick appraising glance,waves him over and continues with his
cooking.
PAPA
Louis says you're a cook.
AVNER
I... I know how to cook.
PAPA
You'll help me. You bring these ...
He hands Avner a big metal bowl filled with kidneys. He
points to the sink.
PAPA (CONT'D)
There.
Avner brings the bowl to the sink, turns on the tap. Papa
hurries over, nudges Avner out of the way, turns off the tap.
He gestures with the large knife he's holding,
PAPA (CONT'D)
No! Don't wash! It will taste like
boiled sponge.
 AVNER
Then why put them in the sink?
PAPA
If the juices spurt out, it's big
mess, the whole kitchen smells like
piss. Peel off the fat.
He dexterously peels off a kidney's thin membrane of fat.
PAPA (CONT'D)
Let me see your hands.
Avner shows Papa his hands.
PAPA (CONT'D)
Too big for a good cook! That was
my problem too.
Papa holds his right hand up, flat against Avner's.
PAPA (CONT'D)
I'd have been a master but I have
thick stupid butcher's hands, like
yours. We are tragic men. Butcher's
hands, gentle souls.
He tousles Avner's hair, gently, affectionately slaps his
face.
Across the room, Louis is watching their exchange.

148 INT. INSIDE THE FARMHOUSE - DAY 148

Louis, drinking wine, is staring with an uncharacteristic
sullenness out a window. He's watching Avner and Papa
walking together towards an orchard.

149 EXT. THE FARMHOUSE ORCHARD - DAY 149

Papa is picking green plums off a tree, tossing them into a
big basket Avner is holding.
AVNER
These are going to be too sour to
eat.
PAPA
Skin them and prick them and boil
them in sugar, bake them in honey
and dough.
(MORE)
 PLDA (cont'd)
A little torture, you'll see how
nice they are.
You call me papa.
AVNER
I can't do that.

AVNER
I have a papa already.
Papa stops picking and looks at Avner.
PAPA
And you are devoted to him.
AVNER
?-an I here because of what happened
in Beirut?
PAPA
Your papa must be proud of his son.
We'll pick a few, let the rest
ripen. There are too many? people .
to feed. But --
AVNER
You have to feed your family.
PAPA
(grinning:)
Yes !
We don't work with governments.
AVNER
Louis said, but --
PAPA
But you did what you had to,
because you have to feed your
family.
They turn to go back to the farmhouse.
Louis is in the window. Papa and Avner stare at him; Avner
waves. Louis raises his glass in salute.

150 INT. TKE COMMON ROOM OF THE FARMHOUSE - DAY 150

The whole group is seated around the massive table. Food and
wine are being served by the women.
Papa is at the head of the table, Avner seated on his right.
Louis and Sylvie sit a few seats down.
PAPA
(to Avner:)
I blew up trains, bridges, trucks
full of Germans daring the war. My
brothers died. My papa and my
sister were both hanged, she was a
young girl.
SYLVIE
Papa, the guest doesn't want to
hear your war stories.
PAPA
(ignoring her:)
We paid this price so Vichy scum
could be replaced by Gaullist scum
and the Nazis could be replaced by
Stalin and America.
We stay away from government.
(to the table, crossing
himself :)
We say grace.
The others start to cross themselves and pray.
LOUIS
Maybe our guest could lead us.
Papa looks at Avner. Avner starts to cross himself. Papa
grabs his hand, stopping him.
PAPA
It's not required.
(to Louis, angry)
You lead us instead.
Louis deliberately crosses himself backwards.
LOUIS
Our Father, who gives us obedient,
respectful clients who obey the
rules according to which our
business thrives --
Over this, one of the older woman raps her knuckles on the
table.
 LOUIS OLDER WOMAN (FRENCH)
And punish those who (to Papa)
transgress against us, whose I won't have my grandchildren
prevarications and deceptions listen to his blasphemous --
--
PAPA (FRENCH)
(to Louis, angry!)
It's not all for business! I didn't
do all this for the fucking money!
SYLVIE (FRENCH)
why'd you do it then? You've made
millions from this.
PAPA
(to Avner:)
In my despair I fathered madmen who
dress like factory workers but
never do manual labor, who read
nonsense and spout pompous bullshit
about Algerians and, and who love
nothing, not Algerians or French or
flesh and blood or anything living.
(to Louis, pointedly:)
So I have sympathy for a man who
can say "I have a papa." Who does
what he must for his family.
(to Sylvie, in FRENCH:)
I did it for my family, for you.
You... centaur! You minotaur!
Sylvie laughs at this.
PAPA
I will say grace.

151 EXT. THE FARMYARD - AFTERNOON 151

Louis, the large man and the driver are waiting by the car.
Papa and Avner stand apart. A small child is hanging on to
Avner's hand, swinging. Papa holds a wax paper parcel tied
neatly with green gardener's twine.
PAPA
In the resistance there were
occasionally some of your uncles,
your cousins.
AVNER
My ... ?
 PAPA
Ruben, Benjamin and Moshe.

AVNER
Oh.
PAPA
When it came t o k i l l i n g Ge,?nans,
even we d i d n ' t have such a f i e r c e
a p p e t i t e f o r it.
( b e a t)
T h e r e ' s some o p i n i o n t h a t you
should b e punished f o r what
happened i n B e i r u t .
AVNER
We d i d n ' t know s o many would d i e .
PAPA
I ' m i n business with death. Do you
t h i n k I ' m squeamish?
Papa p a t s Avner's cheek.
PAPA ( C O N T ' D )
The world has been rough w i t h you,
w l t h your t r i b e , your f a m i l y . I t ' s
r i g h t t o respond r o u g h l y t o such
treatment.
Papa p u t s h i s arm a c r o s s Avner's s h o u l d e r and walks him
towards t h e c a r . When Louis i s w i t h i n e a r s h o t :
PAPA ( C O N T ' D )
You pay w e l l and you pay promptly,
s o w e ' l l c o n t i n u e t o g e t h e r , b u t no
more i n f r a c t i o n s .
AVNER
None.
PAPA
You remind me of myself a t your
age.
Louis hands Avner t h e mask and gets i n t o t h e c a r .

AVNER
( t o Papa: )
Thank you. You have my word.
Avner g e t s i n t o t h e c a r , c l o s e s t h e door. Papa r a p s on t h e
g l a s s . The window r o l l s down, and Papa l e a n s i n t o Avner. He
hands Avner t h e p a r c e l :
 PAPA
A few andouillettes and some boudin
noir, black blood sausage, and a
Loire cheese, Selles sur Cher, they
cover it in ash to preserve it.
AVNER
Thank you.
PA-DA
You could have been my son.
Louis winces slightly. Avner's embarrassed.
PAPA
But you're not. Remember that.
We'll do business. But you aren't
family.
Papa walks away. The car drives off.

152 INT. LOUIS'S CAR, DRIVING THROUGH THE FRENCH ALPS - AFTREEEGW
Silence. Avner is blindfolded. He starts to lift the mask.
Louis reaches over and roughly pushes it back in place.

153 INT. LOUIS'S CAR, ?LRRIVING NEAR THE KITCHEN DESIGN SHOP, 153
PARIS - LATE AFTERNOON
The car pulls up to a halt, curbside. Avner removes the
mask.
Louis is thinking. Silence. Avner doesn't know whether to
stay in the car or leave. He puts his hand on the door
handle.
LOUIS
I have a new name for you.
AVNER
I want Salameh.
LOUIS
NO.
AVNER
You know where he is. You know
where all the names are. Salameh.
LOUIS
Untouchable.
 AVNER
I'm tired of hearing that.
You're wasting my time.
Avner starts to get out of the car.
LOUIS
Zaid Muchassi.
Avner doesn't recognize the name and doesn't respond.
LOUIS
Zaid Muchassi. He's in Athens in
two weeks.
AVNER
Not one of our names.
LOUIS
Nevertheless. He's Black
September's KGB contact.
AVNER
Hussein al-Chir was the KGB
contact.
LOUIS
But you put a bomb under Monsieur
al-Chir's bed in Cyprus, and now
he's defunct. Muchassi is his
replacement. I hear he's much
tougher than his predecessor.
Avner doesn't respond.
LOUIS (CONT'D)
We offer Muchassi's whereabouts at
the new rate.
AVNER
The new rate.
LOUIS
Three names for six hundred
thousand is $200,000 for one name.
Avner nods.
AVNER
I'll need you to get me a place to
work in Athens.
LOUIS
Of course... A safe house
154 OMITTED

155 EXT. A STREET IN A CRUMMY NEIGHBORHOOD, ATHENS - DAY 155

Avner, Steve and Robert, carrying a duffel bag and a small

suitcase, are standing in front of a derelict building, the
crummiest on a block of really crummy warehouses; they're
looking in disbelief at the address.
STEVE
Louis's idea of a joke?
ROBERT
I've had nightmares that look like
this.

156 INT. THE SAFE HOUSE, ATHENS - DAY

A large and utterly derelict apartment. Ir's unfmished and
abandoned. Cinderblock walls, cement floor, dank. It's
unfurnished, except for a small transistor radio, a few
rickety chairs, a couple of crates and two stacks of old
mattresses -- a pile of five, and a pile of four -- each pile
tied with hemp. Carl counts the mattresses, while Hans is
putting cartons of take-out food on one of the crates.
Robert is sitting on the floor, carefully wiring together
four squat, dinged-up, rust-spotted cylinders, hooking these
up to a remote-controlled fuse, and then placing the
contraption into a small suitcase, surrounding each device
with newspaper to prevent jostling. Four more of the
cylinders, more decrepit than the ones Robert's working on,
sit nearby on the floor. Steve and Avner watch him.
ROBERT
(talking while he works)
When they explode they'll toss
little white balls of phosphorus
around his room. Each ball is like
a little sun. It burns at around
5 , 0 0 0 degrees. The air catches
fire, everything melts. The bad
news is they're grenades. I'm
altering them to use with a remote
detonator. And also I should
mention they're quite old, only
four looked viable. We'll have to
dump the rest.
Robert puts the unusable four grenades in a canvas duffel bag.
 AVNER
There's a porter at the hotel where
Muchassi is staying. He'll let us
in the room when Muchassi's out.
STEVE
Who provided these grenades?
CARL
Louis.
STEVE
Yeah. Thank him for that.

15i INT. THE SAFE HOUSE, ATHENS - LATE NIGHT 157

Food containers are strewn about. Carl, Hans and Avner are
fast asleep. Robert squeezes Avner's hand, gently. Avner
opens his eyes. Robert makes a sign: Quiet. Steve is awake,
gun drawn.
The door is opening.
Avner draws his - 2 2 , and he and Steve move to either side of
the door. Robert picks up the suitcase and the duffel bag
and steps behind Avner.
Four Palestinian men come into the room: one about fifty, two
in their thirties, one of whom is the leader, named Ali, and
one in his early twenties. One of the older men is carrying
groceries. Ali flips the light switch. The Palestinian
carrying the groceries drops them as he and his comrades all
draw their guns.
ALI (ARABIC)
I have this house from the French,
I have permission, I am with Fatah!
PLO! PLO! It's been arranged, don't
shoot or we'll kill you, don't --
we have a right to be here, we
paid.
AVNER
(over this, in pidgin
ARABIC and GERMAN:)
Put your guns away! Do it, now,
we'll shoot, we're... We paid too,
we paid too, Red Army Faction! Red
Army Faction!
ROBERT
ETA! ETA! Basque, Basque!
 AVNER
OK. OK. OK. OK.

T h e y ' r e a l l p o i n t i n g t h e i r guns. Avner g l a n c e s a t C a r l , t h e n

t h e n lowers h i s gun s l o w l y . The l e a d e r o f t h e P a l e s t i n i a n
group f o l l o w s s u i t . C a r l , Hans and Robert lower t h e i r guns
n e x t , a s do two more P a l e s t i n i a n s . S t e v e and t h e youngest
P a l e s t i n i a n c o n t i n u e t o h o l d t h e i r guns o u t , a t e n s e f a c e -
off.
ALI (ARABIC)
S a i d , p u t it down, now.
AVNER
( i n GERMAN, t o Steve:)
Jurgen! You a l s o !
S a i d lowers h i s gun, a s does S t e v e , a f t e r a q u i c k bemused
g l a n c e a t Avner. E v e r y o n e ' s g o t a f i n g e r on a t r i g g e r ,
scared.
AVNER (CONT'D)(HALTING ARABIC:)
Who t o l d you t o come h e r e ?
ALI (HALTING GERMAN: )
The man a t t h e b a r on H a d j i d a k i s
S t r e e t , t h e man who works f o r t h e
French.
A beat.

AVNER
What French? Louis?
The P a l e s t i n i a n l e a d e r s h r u g s , n o t r e c o g n i z i n g t h e name.
ONE OF THE OLDER PALESTINIANS
Who a r e you? English?
ROBERT
I ' m ETA.
( p o i n t i n g t o C a r l and
Hans )
T h e y ' r e Red Army F a c t i o n .
(pointing t o Steve:)
He's ANC. Jurgen. Afrikaans.
( p o i n t i n g t o Avner:)
Bruno. H e ' s from Hamburg.
X I
We're from Amman. I ' m A l i .
(pointing a t the others:)
S a i d , George, Abed.
 Everyone nods i n t e n s e g r e e t i n g .
A L I (CONT'D)
W e p a i d f o r two n i g h t s , he s a i d it
was safe.
AVNER
He t o l d us t h e same.
ONE OF THE OLDER PALESTINIANS
Yes. S a f e house.
AVNER
Yes.
ALI
SO. So i s it.. . So w e ' r e s a f e ?
AVNER
Safe .
Everyone i s s a f e .

158 INT. THE SAFE HOUSE, ATHENS - NEARLY DAWN 158

d a r l , ~ a n sand ~ o b e r ta r e s l e e p i n g , Robert c u r l e d around t h e
s u i t c a s e , h i s head on t h e d u f f e l bag. Steve i s s i t t i n g on a
m a t t r e s s , gun s t i l l i n h i s hand. The twenty-year-old
P a l e s t i n i a n i s l e a n i n g a g a i n s t a w a l l , a l s o k e e p i n g watch.
Two o t h e r P a l e s t i n i a n s a r e a s l e e p . The remnants of t h e i r
d i n n e r a r e mingled w i t h t h e I s r a e l i s ' t a k e - o u t .
Avner and A l i a r e t a l k i n g q u i e t l y .
The twenty-year o l d P a l e s t i n i a n goes t o t h e r a d i o , c r o u c h e s ,
t u r n s it on, f i d g e t s w i t h t h e d i a l till he f i n d s a s t a t i o n
p l a y i n g I n d i a n music, a woman s i n g i n g i n a h i g h n a s a l v o i c e .
S a t i s f i e d , he resumes h i s p o s t , s t a r i n g a t S t e v e .
S t e v e s t a n d s , goes t o t h e r a d i o , crouches, t u r n s t h e d i a l t o
Greek t a v e r n a music. The P a l e s t i n i a n r e t u r n s , c r o u c h e s
b e s i d e s S t e v e , t u r n s t h e d i a l back t o t h e I n d i a n s t a t i o n ,
t h e n , looking up a t Steve f o r an i n s t a n t , c o n t i n u e s t o move
t h e d i a l till he f i n d s an English-language s t a t i o n , s t o p p i n g
when he h e a r s t h e opening notes of The S t a p l e S i n g e r s ' "I
know a p l a c e . " With a t e r s e nod of agreement, S t e v e g e t s up,
goes t o t h e m a t t r e s s , s i t s , and t h e P a l e s t i n i a n g o e s ' b a c k t o
h i s post.
Avner and A l i a r e t a l k i n g while t h e r a d i o p l a y s b e h i n d them.
 ALI
Eventually the Arab states will
rise against Israel -- they don't
like Palestinians, but they hate
the Jews more. It won't be like
1967, the rest of the world will
see by then what the Israelis do to
us, and they won't help when Egypt
and Syria attack. Even Jordan.
Israel will cease to exist.
Avner doesn't respond. They look at each other.
AVNER
I guess. Only ...
Ail
What?
AVNER
This is a dream. You can't take
back a country you never had.
ALI
You sound like a Jew.
AVNER
(smiling:)
Fuck you. I'm the voice inside
your head, telling you what you
know is true. Your people have
nothing to bargain with. You'll
never get the land back. You'll
all die, old men in refugee camps,
waiting for "Palestine."
ALI
(a shrug, easy:)
We have a lot of children, they'll
have children, so we can wait
forever, and, and ...
if we need to,
we can make the whole planet unsafe
for Jews.
AVNER
You kill Jews, and the world feels
bad for them, and thinks you're
animals.
ALI
Yeah, but then the world will see
how they've made us into animals.
( MORE )
 ALI (cont'd)
They'll start to ask questions
about the conditions in our cages.
rnER
You're Arabs. There are lots of
places for Arabs.
ALI
You're a Jew sympathizer. All you
Germans are soft on Israel, you
give us money but you feel guilty
about Hitler, and the Jews exploit
your guilt. My father didn't gas
any Jews.
AVNER
Tell me something, Ali.
ALI
What?
AVNER
You really miss your father's olive
trees? The crappy.village he came
from? You honestly think you have
to get back all that.. . nothing,
chalky soil and stone huts? That's
what you want for your kids?
A beat. Ali looks into Avner's eyes.
ALI
It is. It absolutely is. It'll
take a hundred years, but we'll
win. How long did it take the Jews
to get their own country? How long
did it take the Germans to make
Germany?
AVNER
And look how well that worked out.
ALI
You don't know what it is not to
have a home. That's why you
European reds don't get it. You say
it's nothing, but you have a home
to come back to.
ETA, ANC, IRA, PLO -- we all
pretend we care about your
"International revo1ur;ion." But we
don't care. We want to be nations.
Home is everything.
159 OMITTED

160 OMITTED 160

161 INT. THE HOTEL ARISTIDES, CORRIDOR OUTSIDE - DAY 161

Hans and Robert, carrying a suitcase, watch a porter unlock
the door to a room. Robert, then Hans step inside. The
porter tries to follow them in. Hans blocks the doorway.
HANS
(to Porter:)
You go downstairs.
PORTER
No, I watch.
Hans hands him a few more bills. The porter smilingly
accepts the money, but still he tries to see into the room.
PORTER (CONT'D)
You only take money in closet and
papers, yes?
HANS
Yes.
Robert pushes past Hans, leaving the room.
ROBERT
Let's go.

162 EXT. DOWN THE STREET FROM THE HOTEL ARISTIDES - NIGHT 162
Two cars pulls up, about a hundred yards down the street from
the hotel. Steve gets out of one of them. He looks both
ways. The street is empty. He takes out a pistol with a
silencer and shoots out the street light nearest the car.
Steve gets back into the car, driver's side. Hans in the
passenger seat, Carl in the back with the duffel bag.
They wait.

163 EX?;. THE SECOND CAR OUTSIDE THE HOTEL ARISTIDES - LATE NI
Robert and Avner are inside, Avner at the wheel. They're
waiting. They're not speaking.
164 INT. FIRST CAR OUTSIDE THE HOTEL ARISTIDES - NIGHT 164
Hans sees a black Mercedes coming down the street.
HANS
Look.
The black Mercedes arrives at the hotel. Two Russians in
suits get out.
STEVE
The Russians arrive in their
pumpkin coach, and. ..
A Palestinian man, Zaid Muchassi, comes out of the black
Mercedes .
STEVE (CONT'D)
Cinderella.

165 INT. SECOND CAR OUTSIDE THE HOTEL ARISTIDES - LATE NIGHT 165
Avner and Robert watch, slouched down, as Ali and another
Palestinian from the safe house get out of the black
Mercedes. Muchassi enters the hotel with the other
Palestin~ans. The Russians stay outside.
ROBERT
Do we detonate if the other Arabs
go into the room with him?

166 INT. FIRST CAR OUTSIDE THE HOTEL ARISTIDES - NIGHT

Hans, Carl and Steve are watching the Russians.
STEVE
What are they doing?
CARZ,
Wait for the signal.
STEVE
Why are the Russians waiting? Why
don't they leave?
FIANS
They're waiting. We're waiting.
Stay calm.
 STEVE
I'm calm. Tell the goddam Russians
to leave.

167 INT. SECOND CAR OUTSIDE THE HOTEL ARISTIDES - ;ATE NIGHT 167
Avner and Robert watch the Russians, lounging near the car,
chatting and smoking. The wait is agonizing.
Finally a porter comes out the front door of the hotel. He
lights a cigarette.
AVNER
He's in his room.
Do it.
ROBERT
Is he alone? How do we know he --
AVNER
DO IT! DO IT! FLIP THE SWITCH!
Robert flicks the switch. Nothing. Robert flicks the swltch
rapldly back and forth.
ROBERT
Shit. Stupid shit piece of --
AVNER
What?! What?! Oh fuck not again,
not --

168 INT. STEVE, HANS AND CARL'S CAR - LATE NIGHT

They're waiting for the blast.
STEVE
Where's the explosion, it should
have exploded by now, what's --
CARL
Another malfunction. Did the --
Maybe it's delayed, or, or --
STEVE
He screwed up again. What do we
do?
Hans reaches over to the back seat, grabs the duffel bag.
 CARL
Careful with that stuff! What are
you --
Hans gets out of the car with the duffel bag. He walks
briskly but calmly towards the hotel.

169 INT. AVNER AND ROBERT'S CAR - LATE NIGHT 169

Robert is pressing the remote. Avner grabs it from him and
tries flicking the switch himself.
AVNER
It has to work, it has to, what's
the matter with it, can't you make
it -
ROBERT
We'll have to go back and retrieve
the explosives, I'm sorry, I, I
don't --
Robert spots Hans heading across the street towards the
hotel.
ROBERT
What's he doing?
AVNER
Wait here.
Avner gets out of the car, crosses the street, and ...

170 EXT. OUTSIDE THE HOTEL ARISTIDES - LATE NIGHT

... moves towards the hotel.
Hans, nodding to the KGB men, goes in to the hotel. The
porter sees Hans and, surprised, goes in after him.
Avner is nearing the front door, but he stops when he sees
Ali and the other Palestinian emerge from inside. Avner
ducks into a doorway so that Ali doesn't see him. The
Palestinians confer with the KGB agents. Avner doesn't know
what to do next.

171 INT. T m STAIRWAY OF THE HOTEL ARISTIDES - LATE NIGHT 171

Hans is rushing up the stairs, the porter in pursuit.
 PORTER
Hey! Hey mister! What are you
doing? What are you doing in here?
Hans, as he goes up the stairs, hangs the duffel bag on his
left arm, unzips it and takes out a grenade, transfers the
grenade to his left hand, and with his right hand takes out
his gun.
The porter, right behind him, freezes when he sees the
grenade.
They're both panting with exertion.

172 INT. THE HALLWAY OUTSIDE MUCHASSI'S ROOM, HOTEL .=ISTIDES1112

LATE NIGHT
Hans, breathing heavily, stops outside Muchassi's door. The
porter arrives behind him, keeping his distance.
Hans, grenade in his left hand, gun in his right, shoots the
lock and kicks the door open. Then, clumsily, he pulls the
grenade pin with his right hand, in which he still holds a
gun. He tosses the grenade into the room, past Muchassi, who
is scrambling to pull his gun from his coat. When Muchassi
sees the grenade he forgets about the gun and rushes towards
the door. Hans swings the duffel bag with his left arm,
clouting Muchassi in the face, knocking him back into the
room. Hans throws the bag into the room, pulls the door
shut, then, dropping his gun, he hangs on with both hands to
the knob as Muchassi, inside, tries frantically to pull the
door open, yelling in Arabic.
There is a flash and the door tears off its hinges, blowing
into Hans, pushing him with a THUD into the hallway wall
opposite. Smoke rolls out of the open door. Hans throws the
door off and staggers past the porter, who is pressed against
a wall, terrified. Hans gropes in the wreckage for his gun,
finds it, and stumbles down the stairs. A second, much
larger explosion: the other bombs in the room detonate. Hans
and the porter fall. Hans gets up and runs down the stairs.

173 EXT. OUTSIDE THE HOTEL ARISTIDES - LATE NIGHT 173

The KGB agents and the two Palestinians look up as the glass
in Muchassi's room's windows blow out, little balls of
phosporus sailing outward into the night air.
Ali and the other Palestinian, guns drawn, start back into
the hotel,just as Hans is running out. Hans fires his gun at
the black Mercedes's window, shattering it, forcing the
Palestinians and the Russians to dive for cover.
 The porter appears at the dooz of the hotel, shouting.
PORTER J GaEK )
BOMB! BOMB! THIS MAN THREW A BOMB
INTO THE ROOM! HE KILLED THIS MAN!
POLICE! KILLERS!
He runs after Hans, who is running across the street towards
his car. One of the Russians takes aim at Hans. Avner, from
the doorway, shoots the KGB agent in the back; he falls,
screaming.
Hans and the porter duck in the middle of the street. Hans
grabs the porter by his collar and drags him towards his car.
Back at the black Mercedes, Ali turns in the direction of the
shot. He sees Avner. Ali fires, misses, forcing Avner to run
to another doorway. Then Ali falls, hit by a bullet fired by
Carl, who is standing across the street. Robert, standing
next to Carl, also fires. Ignoring the bullets, the
Palestinian in his 30s heads for Ali in the street.
Hans has reached the car. He shoves the porter in the back
seat and dives in after him. Steve reverses the car and
lurches into the street. Robert and Carl run, crouching, and
scramble in to Steve's car, Robert in the back, Carl up
front, as the other KGB agent starts firing. Bullets strike
the car. The car door is open for Avner.
The Palestinian in his 30s is bending over Ali. He props Ali
up, trying to see how badly he's hurt. Ali searches the
doorways across the street till he finds Avner. They make
eye contact for a moment just before the car screeches up,
blocking the two men from one another's sight. The car
drives off; the doorway is empty.
As the car drives away, the other two Palestinians run to
Ali .

174 INT. THE FIRST CAR - LATE NIGHT 174

The car is tearing through the city. Robert and Hans try
unsuccessfully to subdue the cursing, struggling porter.
Steve, driving, holds up his .22 and fires a shot through the
roof of the car. The porter stops struggling, but he's
crying and cursing Hans.
PORTER (GREEK) HANS
You lied to me and you (to Robert: )
tricked me, you're going to This is thanks to you, are
hell, you murderer, you you incapable of making
bloody monster! something that works?
 *
*
quiet! Shut up! *
*
*

death, Oh my God, oh my
God. . .
(over the

at he's sa

--
STEW C *
j to,Robert) , . [over Steve:)
you get Did you get the detonator!?
We X i e f t the car, we didn't
check for prints and we --
blown yourself to

ROBERT
It isn't my fault if.,, I
do thisl I WAS
S NOT TO BUILD
TEEM !
stares at RO ert, as does Steve
rror. The p rter is now moaning to
 ROBERT
Shin Beit wanted bomb dismantlers,
tney pulled me from the army, a
toymaker, they figured I'm good
with small machines.
After Munich, they asked if I could
build bombs instead.
HANS
Give me some money.
Everyone hands him bills, till he has a large pile. He goes
to the porter and offers him the stack of bills.
HANS (CONT'D)
Here.
Hans flings the money in the porter's lap. The porter spits
in disgust and throws it back at Hans.
The team gets in the third car and drives away.
The porter watches them drive away. He looks at the money on
the pavement, spits on it again, and walks away, leaving it
to blow down the street.

176-186 OMIT

187 INT- A SMALL COFFEE HOUSE IN PARIS - AFTERNOON 187

Avner and Louis in a dim, mostly empty coffee house.
Political posters on the wall protesting the war in Vietnam,
the Algerian conflict, an ugly caricature of Nixon and
DeGaulle. Louis is rather ostentatiously counting American
money from an envelope Avner's handed him; this makes Avner
nervous. small black-and-white television is playing on the
bar, volume low.
LOUIS
Salameh is in London.
He goes there periodically to meet
with his CIA contact --
AVNEX?
His what?!
LOUIS
Salameh works lor the CIA.
 LOUIS
Salameh guarantees that Black
September won't touch American
diplomats. In exchange the CIA
gives him lots of money. They
don't ask what he uses it for.
AVNER
Did he tell them about Munich? In
advance? Did the CIA know about
Munich?
LOUIS
The CIA didn't even know Black
September existed before Munich!
Since then he's been busy, hasn't
he?
Louis nods towards the TV
LOUIS
All manner of costly exercises.
CUT TO TV
SCREEN :
Footage of the Athens airport shooting: the shattered airport
lounge, bodies on the ground, people wandering, dazed and
bleeding; seriously injured people in hospital beds.
LOUIS
Shooting tourists in the Athens
airport. Blowing up pharmacies in
Amsterdam. And that Mossad agent
in Barcelona before that. Europe
hasn't been this interesting since
Napoleon marched to Moscow!
Louis starts to count the money again.
AVNER
Do you have to do that?
LOUIS
Salameh is in London.
For the usual price.

188 OMITTED
189 INT. HANS'S ROOM IN A SAFE HOUSE, LONDON - NIGHT
Hans is bent over a desk, working fastidiously with razors,
glue, a small iron, colored inks and stamps he retrieves from
an open salesman's sample case, altering passports and visas.
Robert sits near him, watching him work with interest. Carl
and Steve are sitting. Avner is cleaning, checking and
loading guns, a gun cleaning kit at hand, silent and removed
from the others, brooding. Everyone's frayed, exhausted.
CARL
We followed him today from his
doctor to his hotel.
AVNER
He's here for eye treatments
STEVE
Salameh. You saw him? You followed
him! ?
AVNER
Yes.
STEVE
Salameh?
CARL
Wearing sunglasses in the rain.
STEVE
Why didn't you shoot him?!
AVNER
He had bodyguards. Civilians.
STEVE
Were they armed? Then they're not
civilians. I'd have done it! If
you'd ever give me have a chance to
to actually shoot someone, I'm the
only one who actually wants to
shoot these guys!
ROBERT
You can take my place the next time
out.
CARL
Maybe that's why we never let you
do it. Your enthusiasm.
 AVNER
(overlapping above:)
only our target gets hurt.
ROBERT
Since when?
STEVE
Yeah, why start worrying now?
CARL
Do you have any idea how many laws
we've broken?
HANS
Well, I forge the documents that
get you in and over and across and
around those laws so I have some
idea, yes.
CARL
Do you know how many treaties we've
violated?
HANS
And still I manage to get a night's
sleep, every night. It's time to
stop your hand-wringing, it's
counter-productive.
STEVE
Why don't you make a list of every
single law, Carl, or, or...
CARL
(overlapping above:)
Including, incidentally, the laws
of the State of Israel, which has
no death penalty.
STEVE
I'll tell you what your problem is,
habibi:
These guys we're killing are
dressed in expensive suits, this is
London and not some ugly Arab
village, and that disorients you.
CARL
I'm not disoriented, I'm keeping my
sanity by occasionally reminding
myself that in spite of the work I
do...
 ROBERT
I'm going to vote that we adjourn
our little minyan for the evening.
STEVE
(Overlapping above:)
But it's the same old war we're
fighting, over the same old scrap
of desert.
CARL
(overlapping above:)
-- remembering I'm still at least
in principle a human being --
HANS
Remembering that you're human is
one thing, broadcasting it so
relentlessly is something else.
HANS
(to Avner:)
Are you going to call a halt to
this? I'd recommend it.
CARL
(overlapping above:)
A thing whlch I've noticed some
people surrender all too willingly.
ROBERT
Let's find a pub. Who besides me
needs a drink?
STEVE
We've brought our war to Kensington
and, and Copenhagen and it's not
like these European anti-Semites
don't deserve that!
Until we learn to act like them
we'll never defeat them.
CARL
We act like them, all the time. You
think they invented bloodshed? How
do you think we got control of the
land? By being nice?
STEVE
1 think we have a double-agent in
our midst. Pull down his pants,
see if he's circumcised.
Carl suddenly goes for Steve. They knock into Hans's table,
upsetting and ruining his work, spilling ink. Hans yells and
scrambles on all fours to rescue his documents while Avner
and Robert get in between Steve and Carl, who keep struggling
to get at one another.
AVNER ROBERT
Stop it! Goddamn it, stop Please, please, caim down,
it! Both of you! calm down. Everyone's
just ... Just tlred and --
HANS
(over the above, to
himself: )
Nonsense, nonsense, infantile
undisciplined distraction and
nonsense.
CARL
(to Steve,over above)
My son died in ' 6 7 , you foulmouthed
sonofabitch! Everything you can ask
I've done for Israel.
HANS
(to Carl:)
Get a grip on yourself! Ask for a
reassignment if this is so
distasteful!
CARL
(to Hans:)
Isn't it distasteful for you?!
STEVE
No. And know what? The only blood
that matters to me is Jewish blood.
What's your problem?
(to Avner:)
Nice job leading, by the way.
Steve leaves the room, slamming the door as he leaves
AVNER
We'll kill the bodyguards if
they're armed.
c m
They 're armed.
AVNER
Then we'll kill them.
190 EXT. A STREET I N LONDON - NIGHT - RAIN
CLOSE UP of Salameh and h i s bodyguards, wallling i n t h e r a i n .
Salamenh and h i s bodyguards a r e t a l k i n g :
BODYGUARD ONE ( I N ARABIC :)
You c o u l d t e l l , s h e was h o t f o r
you, b o s s .
BODYGUARD TWO ( I N ARABIC:)
I t ' s t h i s t h i n g about B r i t i s h
g i r l s . They were a l l over u s .
SALAMEH ( I N ARABIC:)
Sami, you t h i n k e v e r y g i r l I meet
i s h o t f o r me.
BODYGUARD THREE ( I N ARABIC:)
Maybe S a m i ' s h o t f o r you.
BODYGUARD ONE ( I N ARABIC:)
You know how you can t e l l ? With
g l r l s ? They swallow, and t h e y
-
wlden t h e u n o s t r i l s . When t h e y ' r e
t u r n e d on. R e a l l y . Watch f o r it.
BODYGUARD THREE ( I N ARABIC:)
Maybe you should c a l l t h a t guy, t h e
one who i n v i t e d u s , maybe he has
h e r number, you know, you c o u l d
c a l l h e r and say ...You know --
BODYGUARD TWO ( I N ARABIC:)
Say " H i , i s it t r u e a l l B r i t i s h
g i r l s want t o fuck Azrab men?"
SALAMEH ( I N A R A B I C : )
Stop t r y i n g t o marry m e o f f , I ' m
n o t ready.
BODYGUARD ONE ( I N ARABIC:)
Who's t a l k i n g about marrying?
BODYGUARD TWO ( I N ARABIC:)
It's t r u e , they a l l think i t ' s cool
t o fuck an Arab. B r i t i s h g i r l s .
BODYGUARD THREE ( I N ARABIC:)
Then how come none o f them wants t o
fuck you?
 BODYGUARD ONE (IN ARABIC:)
Damn! Damn! She was hot! And I am
lonely!
BODYGUAIUI TWO (IN ARABIC : )
And they're all super-experienced,
English women, they start young,
they know how to do stuff, stuff
the girls back home would kill you
if you asked them.
Avner starts to follow them across the street, Hans trailing
behind. Steve crosses the street and follows them.
Keeping eye contact across the street, Steve and Avner follow
the group of men as they turn a corner. Avner looks back and
nods to Hans, then starts to walk, very quickly, to move
ahead of the men, while Hans crosses the street to Steve.
Avner has moved ahead of the group of men. He crosses the
street, walking ahead of the Arabs, Steve and Hans behind
them.
Suddenly a big American man in a raincoat, appears next to
Avner and punches him, hard, .in the,shoulder. Avner staggers
to one side, almost falling. The American has both fists up,
grinning idiotically, drunk.
DRUNK AMERICAN MAN
Come on get up Roger Burke you ugly
sumbitch! What the fuck are you --
Avner tries to ignore this man and keep walking, but the
American starts sparring with him, jabbing.
DRUNK AMERICAN MAN (CONT'D)
Put em up you fat wet pussy, let's
show these Limey fucks what a --
Avner tries to shove the American away as the three Arab men
push past them and walk on ahead, Steve and Hans behind them.
Two more Americans appear, one of whom is drunk, the other
apparently not, blocking the sidewalk, separating Hans and
Steve from the Arabs. The first drunk American keeps trying
to spar with Avner.
DRUNK AMERICAN MAN (CONT'D) SECOND DRUNK AMERICAN *
Hey, look who it is, it's Waitaminnit waitaminnit *
fuckin Roger Burke! Get up, that's... who the fuck is *
Roger, you fuckin jerk! this, Orrin, who'd you think *
this is. *
Hans has managed to slip past rne drunks and race ahead after
the Arabs.
AVNER TXIRD AMERICAH
(trying to get past Lay off it you asshole,
them) that's not Roger Burke.
Get out of my --
The third American srops Avner from leaving.
THIRD AMERICAN
Sorry about my friend, he's a
fucked up belligerent guy with a
serious drinking problem.
The first drunk American spins Avner around and this time
lands a hard punch to Avner's jaw. Avner falls.
DRUNK AMERICAN MAN SECOND DRUNK AMERICAN
Aw, shit Roger I didn't -- Awww, you moron, they're
whyn't you duck? gonna call the cops or
whatever the fuck they call
em here.
Steve grabs the first American and shoves him aside, against
the nearest wall. The second drunk American throws himself
on Steve, who tries to shake him off.
SECOND DRUNK AMERICAN MAN STEVE
(calling to the third (trying to shake the guy
American: ) off:)
Get 'im, get im you fag, he GET. THE. FUCK. OFF. ME.
hit Orrin, hit him, what're
you waiting for?
The second American is laughing idiotically as Steve throws
him off. Steve is ready to slug the third American when Hans
returns.
HANS
Forget it! Forget it! They, they
had a car. They're gone.
STEVE
Shit!
(to the Americans:)
Step back AWAY from us you --
AVNER
Just, just, come on, come on, let's
--
 SECOND DRUNK AMERICAN
Look, man, we're sorry, my friend
-re --
thought you w-
A W R
It's OK, forget it we...
Avner, Hans and Steve walk away. Steve turns back and shouts
at the Americans:
STEVE
Goddamned asshole drunk Americans!
HANS
We should have used Louis's men to
help us, we... We're slipping. I
can't, I can't believe we let him,
we let him get --
AVNER STEVE
Was it him, did you see if it It was Salameh! Of course it
was Salameh? was him! God DAMN! *
Avner turns around again, suddenly.
About 50 feet behind them, the drunk Americans are getting
Into a car. They no longer seem drunk. The first American
smlles at Avner, winks and flips him the bird, then calmly
gets in and the car speeds away, past Avner Steve and Hans.

191 INT. THE BAR OF THE HOTEL EUROPA, LONDON - NIGHT 191
Avner is sitting in at the bar, nursing a scotch neat, eying
an attractive woman at the other end of the bar, drinking
alone. She looks up, he looks away, and soon there's a game
going on. He moves to a stool next to her.
AVNER
Can I. .. ?

THE W O W
(a London accent:)
I have to go to bed soon. I work
in the morning.
AVNER
What kind of work?
THE WOMAN
The kind that drives you to drink.
AVNER
We must have the same job then.
 TIiE W
I love your accent.

E smoke, does
it?

ER
i:
so.
.
..
._:..._ , .
. .

ou're very n and are you

really going to make me ask?
Avner seriously consi
R
I... just,.. can't.

Pity.
ER
You're very attractive.
TEE 'NO
(sadly)
If you come to your senses, once

r i n k s on the bar,
@ 192 INT. THE LOBBY OF THE HOTEL EUROPA - NIGHT
Avner is going to the lift when he runs into Carl, just
coming in from a drizzly night. Carl shakes his head "no"
when he sees AVner.
AVNER
The drunk Americans. You think they
were CIA?
CARL
They could have been. For all we
know, Louis's CIA. They work both
sides. Everyone does. Or Louis is
Mossad. Maybe he isn't but they're
using him to feed us information,
with no direct link. Or Mossad is
giving it to the CIA which is
giving it to Louis. And Ephraim's
demanding we give him Louis because
he knows we expect him to do that.
AVNER
stop chasing mice around the inside
of your skull.
Carl considers Avner for a moment, then smiles.
CARL
I never thought you'd last.
AVNER
I thought the same about you. From
the start you've seemed. ..
reluctant.
c m
I was born reluctant. Ask my
mother. You ever feel reluctant,
Avner ?
AVNER
I'm... not comfortable with
confusion.
CARL
I knew guys iike you in the army.
You'll do any terrifying thing
you're asked to do, but you have to
do it running.
Avner smiles.
 CART,
You think you can outrun doubts,
fear. The only thing that really
scares you guys is stillness.
AVNER
And fatigue.
CART,
I envy your stamina. But. ..
everyone's overtaken, eventually.
The mice need a brandy. Will I
meet you in the bar?
AVNER
No, I'm on my way Up to...
You'll be alright drinking solo?
CARL
Just a shot to numb the brain.
AVNER
Beware the local honey trap.
CARL
Indeed?
AVNER
You can't miss her. You don't
really want to.
Avner starts towards the lift, then turns to say something to
Carl. But Carl's already gone in the bar.

192A OMIT 192A

193 INT. AVNER'S ROOM IN THE HOTEL EUROPA, LONDON - NIGHT 193
Avner is on the phone.
AVER
I'd like to make a collect call to
Brooklyn New York, in the US. 212-
625-6570. It's Avner.
The phone rings several times. Daphna answers.
DAPHXA
(V.O,, very softly:)
Hello. ..
 OPERATOR
This is a trunk call from Mr.
Storsch, do you accept the charges?
In the background, in Brooklyn, Avner hears the sound of a
baby crying. He winces.

AVNER
Sorry, sorry.
OPERATOR
Do you accept the -
DAPHNA (V.O.)
Yes, yes.
It took me hours to get her --
A W R
Sorry, sorry ...
There's muffled talking in the background, Charlie barking,
Daphna bringing Geula from her crib to the phone. Avner
listens intently.
AVNER
Hello?
DAPHNA (V.O.)
(still soft, trying to get
Geula to sleep:)
I miss you too.
You're in England? Or Australia?
Or... ?
AVNER
Yeah.
I'm thinking, after I do this one
thing I have to do, I can come to
see you.
DAPHNA (V.O.)
Brooklyn is depressing, it's got
more churches than Jerusalem.
Avner hears the sounds of Geula, gurgling, noise-making.
DAPHNA (CONTVD) ( V . O . )
Listen to her talk.
Siience.
 AVNER
(softly:)
I don't... Geula are you ... ?
Hey. Hey Geula. Are you there?
This is your daddy. I'm your papa.
I'm...
(He starts to cry. He
pinches his arm brutally
to stop the tears:)
Remember my voice, baby. Daddy
loves you. Daddy misses you. This
is what I sound like. OK.
Remember my voice.
DAPHNA (V.O.)
She fell asieep. She'll dream about
you.

194 INT. AVNER'S ROOM IN THE HOTEL EUROPA - NIGHT 194

Avner is on the bed, not asleep.

195 INT. THE UNDERGROUND PARKING GARAGE AT 31 CONNOLLYSTE+SSEL95

MUNICH - NIGHT (NEP STADIUM)
From a distance, police and soldiers and qovernment officials
watch as the athletes, blindfolded and bound to one another,
facing out in a ragged circle, shuffle-step towards a dark
green bus; they encircle the armed fedayeen, who are using
them as human shields.
The group awkwardly boards the bus, the fedayeen mixing in
with the hostages and hastening them on board.
TONY
You're doing beautifully, really
beautifully, just keep moving and
don't stop.
SALAH
You're fine, this is all good,
everyone is doing what they should
do.
BADRAN
Are they -- those people, are they
photographing us? IS that allowed?
AN ATHLETE
Are we going to -- is it the
airport? Can we talk to someone,
just --
 TONY
Shut up, OK? We'll just get on the
bus, OK?
AN ATHLETE
Just to tell our families, just to
say we're alright.
ABU HALAH
It'll be over soon. We get on the
bus and we fly away and you go back
to the Games or home. You go home.
AN ATHLETE
To Israel? We'll go back to
Israel, right? I believe you, I
believe what you're saying.
ABU H?+LAH
It's the truth. I'm telling you
the truth.
Issa looks down towards the reporters and cameras.
ISSA
(to Tony:)
Take off their blmdfolds.
Tony nods, then nods to the other fedayeen, who quickly
remove the athletes' blindfolds.

196 INT. ON BOARD THE BUS, MUNICH - NIGHT (NEP STADIUM) 196
The athletes are sitting, bound but not blindfolded, looking
out the widows of the bus. The fedayeen crouch in the aisle
of the bus, guns at the ready.

197 EXT. A FIELD OUTSIDE MUNICH OLYMPIC VILLAGE - NIGHT (~0~01197

AIRFIELD )
The Israeli athletes, still bound, their blindfolds now off,
are being herded with panicked speed by the masked fedayeen
from the dark green bus onto two helicopters. The
helicopters' blades are already rotating rapidly. The bus
and copters, captives and captors are ringed by dozens of
police cars, sirens blazing, and German soldiers and
policemen, all armed, all standing silently watching.
 INT. INSIDE THE HELICOPTER - NIGHT (TOXOL AIRFIELD) 197A
Yaakov Springer stumbles, and he falls against Abu-Halah, who
clumsily grabs to keep the athlete from falling. They both
fall in an embrace. Abu-Halah disentangles himself while his
comrades shout at him. Abu-Halah, as he starts to stand,
is laughing nervously; his laughter turns to terrified
sobbing. The captives and the captors watch him losing it.
Tony and Paulo step in, shove him aside, reach down and with
angry, frightened violence haul Springer to his feet.

198 OMITTED

199 INT. AVNER'S ROOM IN THE HOTEL EUROPA - NIGHT 199

Avner sits up in bed with great violence. He's having a panic
attack, breathing hard, sweating.

200 INT. THE BAR IN THE HOTEL EUROPA - NIGHT 200

Half an hour later. Avner comes into the bar, looking for
Carl. Carl's not there, and neither is the woman.

201 INT. THE LIFT IN THE! HOTEL EUROPA - NIGHT 201

Avner smells something in the air. He raises his wrist to
his nose and sniffs it. Matching scents.
AVNER
Wow. Carl.. .

202 INT. AN UPPER FLOOR HALLWAY IN THE HOTEL EUROPA - NIGHT 202
Avner's on the way to his soom. He has his key out. He
passes Carl's room. He pauses in front of it. He sniffs the
perfume again. He carefully puts his ear to the door. He
listens. He grins, half amused, half jealous.
AVNER
(softly)
I saw her first, you asshole.
Avner turns to leave and then notices that the door is almost
imperceptibly ajar. Avner Listens, hesitates.
He knocks softly and waits. He knocks again.
 AVNER
Car1?
He pushes the door open, slowly. Carl is lying face down,
naked, on the bed.
Avner looks both ways down the hallway, draws his gun, and
steps into the room, shutting the door.

203 INT. CAIIL'S ROOM, THE HOTEL EUROPA - LATE NIGHT

Avner, gun ready, surveys the room, checks out the bathroom,
goes to the bed.
Carl's head is resting face down on the pillow, which is
turning black with blood. At tne base of Carl's skull, under
the hair, is a small black hole.
He turns Carl's head, enough to see that the exit wound in
his forehead is large. He gently puts Carl's face back into
the pillow.
He crouches by the bed, doubling over, his face spasming into
a scream. A hiss of air escapes his throat. He's shaking.

204 INT. A SMALL RESTAURANT, PARIS - NIGHT

Avner, Robert, Louis and Papa are seated, food in front of
them. Only Papa is eating. Robert is drinking.
PAPA
You should have had the boeuf a la
catalane, it's what they do best
here, they're from the coast.
(to Louis:)
You have the parcel?
Louis puts a wax paper parcel tied with green twine on the
table. Papa pushes it towards Avner.
PAPA
Pork sausages with garlic and
pistachios.
LOUIS
Maybe he doesn't eat pork.
Papa shuts Louis up with a backhand wave.
 PAPA
They're delicious. And a cheese
from the mountains, it's made by
women for St. Agatha's day, Tetoun
it's called, our local word for
"tits" -- milky and peppery and
very good.
(to Louis:)
Show our friend the photographs.
Louis hands Avner an envelope. Avner opens the envelope,
removes four photos and examines them. He immediately takes
one and hands it to Louis.
AVNER
That's her.
Louis looks at it, nods.
LOUIS
She's Dutch, not political, she's
entirely business-minded.
She lives in Hoorne, she's there
now. This is dependable
information. , , ?: . .~

PAPA
For which you pay nothing. We're
giving you this. You understand
why?
AVNER
Because you want me to believe you
had nothing to do with my partner's
murder.
They look at each other. Papa watches them.
PAD-A
We inhabit a world of intersecting
secrecies. We live and we die at
the places where those secrecies
meet. That's what we accept. Yes?
We buy information for you from
your enemies. This alerts them.
You're not the only people looking
for names.
AVNER
You're telling me that I'm being
hunted now.
 LOUIS
H e ' s t e l l i n g you i t ' s t i m e f o r you
t o quit.

PAPA
"The r a c e i s n o t t o t h e s w i f t , nor
t h e b a t t l e t o t h e strong. But time
and chance happens t o them a l l . "
AVNER
I don't... That's ... t h e Bible?

ROBERT
Ecclesiastes.
"For a man knows not h i s t i m e . "
PAPA
"...As t h e f i s h e s t h a t a r e t a k e n i n
an e v i l n e t , a s t h e b i r d s t h a t a r e
c a u g h t i n a s n a r e -"

ROBERT
" -- s o a r e t h e sons of men s n a r e d
i n an e v i l time.. ."
Louls shows Avner a n o t h e r photograph. I t ' s a grainy
s u r v e i l l a n c e s h o t of Avner.
PAPA
E v i l f a l l s suddenly.
- -
Who can say
when it f a l l s ?

205 EXT. THE TIiAIN STATION I N PARIS - DAY 205

The team i s on a p l a t f o r m marked AMSTEPDAM. S t e v e and Hans

clim!~ on board. Avner s t a r t s t o g e t on. R o b e r t , who h a s
been hanging back, w a i t i n g f o r t h i s , grabs A v n e r ' s arm and
s t o p s him. Avner l o o k s a t Robert, confused. Then he s t e p s
back down o n t o t h e p l a t f o r m . Robert looks a t Avner, b u t
n e i t h e r speaks f o r a moment. Robert r e a c h e s o u t and smooths
t h e l a p e l on Avner's c o a t .

ROBERT
(softly:)
You're going t o k i l l h e r .
Avner nods.

ROBERT
We've k i l l e d n i n e men. And how
many o t h e r s d i e d i n B e i r u t ?
A l l t h i s blood comes back t o u s .
 Silence. Avner looks down the platform, up into the train.
AVNER
Eventually it will work. Even if
it takes years. We'll beat them.
Robert looks at Avner, terribly sad.
ROBERT
We're Jews, Avner, Jews don't do
wrong because our enemies do wrong.
AVNER
We can't afford to be that.. .
decent anymore.
ROBERT
I don't know that we ever were that
decent. Suffering thousands of
years of hatred doesn't make you
decent. But we're supposed to be
righteous. That's what I was
taught, that's Jewish, that
beautiful thing. That's what I
knew. Absdutely.
And I think I've lost that. Avner.
I've lost that too.
AVNER
Oh that's, that's --
ROBERT
That's everything. I've lost
everything. My, my soul.
A brief silence. Avner looks at Robert, who is looking down
at the pavement.
AVNER
Go home and rest, OK?
You don't have to do this one.
Robert starts to say something, then nods.

206 EXT- A HOUSEBOAT ON A CANAL IN HOORNE, THE NETHERLANDS - 206

EARLY MORNING
A very quiet, misty morning. Avner, Hans and Steve cycle
noiselessly down a road running parallel to a canal. They go
past a houseboat, checking it out as they pass.
 They stop their bikes, lay them in the grass across the road.
They take bicycle pumps clipped to heir bike frames and
quietly the road.

207 INT. IN THE HOUSEBOAT - EARLY MORNING 207

Jeanette is having coffee and a cigarette, wearing an old
housecoat. Steve enters.
Jeanette puts down her cigarette, carefully.
JEANETTE
Well, and who are you?

Avner enters
AVNER
You know why we're here?
JEANETTE
I want to get dressed.
She starts to reach in a drawer nearby.
JEANETTE
Maybe you want to hire me? You
know how good I am.
They raise their zipguns. She lowers her robe, exposing her
breasts.
.JEANETTE
Please don't, please don't, it's
such a fucking waste of talent.
They fire.
Hans enters and fires another bullet in her head.

208 EXT. OUTSIDE TKE HOUSEBOAT -- EARLY MORNING 208

In the windows of the houseboat, two flashes, two shots, then
one more flash and shot.

209 INT. IN TEE HOUSEBOAT - MORNING 209

Jeanetteasbody is sprawled in a chair, her housecoat open.
Her eyes are open. Blood is leaking from her eyes, ears and
mouth. Bullet holes in her chest, stomach, and forehead. A
haze of smoke hovers near the ceiling of the room.
 Avner, Hans and S t e v e a r e p e r f e c t l y s t i l l . A f a t housecat
comes o u t of h i d i n g . It mews. Avner moves t o c l o s e up t h e
housedress.
KANS
Leave i t .

21 0 EXT. OUTSIDE THE HOUSEBOAT -- EARLY M O W I N G

S t e v e , Hans and Avner emerge from t h e houseboat and, l o o k i n g
around, q u i c k l y go t o t h e i r b i k e s , mount and c y c l e away.

210A OMITTED 2IOA

210B EXT. A FISH STALL AT AN OPEN-AIR FOOD MARKET, FRANKFURT Z l O B

EAFLY EVENING

I t ' s r a i n i n g , l i g h t l y b u t s t e a d i l y , and c o l d . Avner, hollow,

f a t i g u e d , i n a d e q u a t e l y d r e s s e d and soaking w e t from t h e r a i n ,
i s mechanically shopping f o r d i n n e r . He's c a r r y i n g a two
bags f u l l o f food, b r e a d , meat, v e g e t a b l e s , w a i t i n g f o r t h e
fishmonger who i s s t a n d i n g behind t r a y s of f i s h on i c e ,
wrapping a huge c a r p i n paper. H e ' s t r y i n g t o l o o k normal,
b u t h i s eyes d a r t t h i s way and t h a t , checking o u t everyone
who comes n e a r him, g i v i n g away w h a t ' s becoming a h a b i t u a l ,
unconscious panicked paranoid.
A s Avner w a i t s , w e h e a r Hans's v o i c e :

ms (V.O.)
I n seven months we've k i l l e d s i x of
t h e e l e v e n names. We've k i l l e d one
replacement. One of o u r t a r g e t s i s
i n p r i s o n , and f o u r , i n c l u d i n g A l i
Hassan Salameh, a r e a t l a r g e .
One of our own has f a l l e n . One has
been r e t i r e d .

210C EXT- NEAR THE DUCKPOND I N THE OSTPARK, FRANKFURT - EARLY21OC

EVENING
Avner i s walking through t h e r a i n , g e t t i n g h e a v i e r , burdened
w i t h sodden g r o c e r i e s , t a k i n g a s h o r t c u t t h r o u g h t h e p a r k on
h i s way home. He walks f a s t , g l a n c i n g a b o u t , t u r n i n g once t o
look behind, a f r a i d of being followed o r a t t a c k e d . Again,
Hans's voice:
 HANS (V.O.)
Since we began: the other side has
sent letter bombs to eleven
embassies, hijacked three planes,
killed 130 passengers in Athens and
wounded scores more, and killed our
military attache in Washington.
A man turns on to the path behind Avner and accidentally
bumps into him. Avner startles, spins on the man, who jumps
back, looking at Avner like he's nuts, and hurries away.
Avner's barely-suppressed panic breaks loose. Breathing
hard, he stops, sags, soaking wet, shivering, trying to
collect himself.

210D INT. THE KITCHEN OF THE SAFE HOUSE, FRANKFURT - EAFGY ElJlXKEG

Avner is scaling, gutting, filleting the carp, working with a

strange blind intensity, almost violent, but also with
precision, care, skill. The kitchen's crammed with food, and
a mess: a pot of soup, a roast chicken, curried potatoes,
pickles, salad, braised vegetables, a pair of berry tarts,
and heaps of choppea-up spices, herbs, garni, peelings,
flour, eggshells. It looks like he's cooking for twenty.
HANS (V.O.)
Some of this was done by a
Venezuelan called Carlos the
Jackal, who replaced Zaid Muchassi.
Who replaced Hussein al-Chir. Black
September's original leadership has
been decimated. But new leaders are
emerging for whom Black September
wasn't violent enough.

210E INT. THE SAFE HOUSE IN FRANKFURT - EVENING

It's pouring rain outside, thunder, lightning. Avner, Steve
and Hans are seated at the table. There are two empty places
-- Avner's set the table for five -- and a ridiculous amount
of food. Avner and Steve eat. Avner's downcast and focusing
on the food. Hans has a jumbled pile of receipts before him,
but he's not working on them, nor is he eating. He's
drinking, a near-empty bottle of vodka in front of him.
Steve watches them both, feeling alone.
 HANS
And to dispatch our six dispatched
targets, we must have spent
something close to two million
dollars. Right?
STEVE
(to Avner, looking at the
heaps of food: )
You, uh, you've been cooking.
Avner nods, not looking up, eating.
STEVE
(pointing to the empty
places :)
Were you expecting company?
Avner stands, clears the two empty places.
HANS
Two million dollars. At least.
Mrs. Meir says to the Knesset that
the world must see that killing
Jews will be from now on an
expensive proposition. But killing
Palestinians isn't exactly cheap.
Avner returns to his place, sits, starts to eat again and
stops. No one is eating. Hans pours another drink.
HANS
(to Avner:)
If all eleven were dead, you'd
stop?
AVNER
Yes.
HANS
You're lying. What about their
replacements? What if each time we
kill we create six more?
AVNER
Then maybe I would have to keep
killing them.
HANS
Forever?
Hans finishes off his glass and pours another. AVner starts
to eat again.
 ArnR
Five targets are scill alive. Five
more men to kill.
Eventually, I suppose, you forget
you were once someone who really
hated doing it. Or who cares? What
I feel, personally, gets less,
every day. Someday, I'll get up in
the morning, kill... go to bed at
night. And I won't feel anything at
all.
HANS
Huh.
Hans finishes off the glass and pours another drink. Steve
reaches out to stop him, Hans pulls away.
STEVE
There's enough here to feed
Bangladesh. Stop drinking and eat
something.
HANS
I keep seeing the Dutch woman, you
know, sprawled out like that. It's
not that I wish we hadn't killed
her. But.. .
(to Avner:)
I wish I'd let you close up her
housecoat.
STEVE
Well, you weren't yourself
Avner eats. Hans drinks.

210F INT. THE HALLWAY OUTSIDE THE SAFE HOUSE, FRANKFURT - BEF-F
DAWN

Steve is knocking softly but insistently on Avner's door.

Avner opens the door.
STEVE (CONT'D)
I went to Hans's flat, over the,
urn, antique shop, just to check up,
he was so... Anyway, he's gone
somewhere. I waited. All night. He
hasn't come back.
@ 2i0G EXT. THE POND IN THE OSTPARK, FRANKFURT - BEFORE DAWN 210G
Bitter cold, and glittering: Some of the moisture from the
night before has crystallized into hoarfrost. Hans is sitting
on a bench, facing the pond. He's icy, dead. His hands are
limp at his side, eyes open. His face under the frozen rain
and condensation is completely grey.
Avner, shivering in the cold, sits next to Hans's body,
looking around. He unbuttons Hans's shirt, moves the frozen
fabric aside. It crackles. There's a dark narrow oblong
wound in his chest above his heart, frozen blood crusted
around it.
AVNER
Knife .
Steve is standing nearby, gun drawn. The park's deserted.
STEVE
He walked here every night, he...
Avner searches Hans's pockets, retrieving a wallet, an
Austrian passport, a gun.
AVNER (CONT' D )
They didn't take anything.
STEVE
Who walks in a park at niqht?
Maybe he was a homo. I don't know
anything about him.
Steve sits on the other side of Hans.
AVNER (CONT'D)
Louis will send someone.
STEVE
He's selling us, he --
AVNER
He walked here every night. Anyone
could --
Steve's fighting hard not to lose control. Avner closes
Hans's coat. Then his eyes.
STEVE
This is ... awful.
I'm ... I'm going to check on, urn,
tell Robert. He should know, we
have to be careful, we...
(MORE)
 STEVE (cont ' d)
It's awful.
Avner?
Avner startles out of some reverie.
AVNER
What? I... I was... I wasn't
listening.

210H OMITTED 210H

2101 INT. THE SAFE HOUSE IN FRANKFURT - NIGHT 2101

Avner is alone in the safe house. He turns out the lights.
He walks to his bedroom. He's about to open the door to the
bedroom, when he freezes, thinking he's heard a noise inside.
He puts his ear to the door, listens. He goes back to the
front room and gets his gun from his holster.

210J INT. AVNER'S BEDROOM, FRANKFURT SAFE HOUSE - NIGHT 210J

He throws opens the door to his bedroom, gun at the ready.
The room is empty.
He goes to the door of the closet. Gun ready, he opens the
closet door.

210K EXT. A SMALL STONE COTTAGE, BATTICE, BELGIUM - NIGHT 210K

The cottage stands alone in a field. It's very dark outside,
no other houses around. A few longhair sheep are rooting
around for edible grasses. There's light in the cottage
windows.

210L INT. INSIDE THE COTTAGE - NIGHT 2 1OL

The cottage is a weird combination of explosives workshop and
toy repair shop, bomb parts and disassembled toys
intermingled; on one table is a huge, elaborate war game,
beautifully articulated toy soldiers with working parts
facing each other across a splendid, painted battlefield.
Robert is alone, coat hanging from a peg on the wall. He
looks exhausted and sad. He's wearing plastic protective
goggles. He's packing up the place, putting explosives,
machinery in crates for detonation outdoors in the morning-
He looks at his hands; they're trembling. He tries to warm
them, rubbing them together. They're still trembling. He
removes his protective goggles and rubs his eyes.
 He takes toois from a wall cabinet, then stops: he finds a
pouch of very old velvet. He removes it, opens it, and takes
out a tallis and tefillin. He stares at these for a moment.
He sits. Then slowly, tightly he binds the tefillin around
his left arm and his forehead. He covers his head with the
tallis and begins to daven, reciting the Hebrew prayer for
travellers.
ROBERT (IN HEBREW)
May it be thy will, Oh Lord our God
and God of our fathers, to conduct
us in peace. ..
210M INT. AVNER'S BEDROOM, FRANKFURT SAFE HOUSE - NIGHT
Avner is holding the closet door open. No one is inside
He sits on the bed, hyperflexing his left hand, holding his
gun in his right, not able to calm down, no idea what to do
with himself.
He stands, slides a chair under the doorknob.
He paces the floor of the bedroom.
He hangs his gun, in its holster, near the bed. He carefully
lifts the mattress to see if there's a bomb under it. Of
course there isn't. He takes a pocket knife out of his
pocket, opens it, lifts the mattress again and slits it open,
then searches the innards, looking for a bomb. Again,
nothing.
Robert's prayer is heard over the scene:
ROBERT (VO IN HEBREW)
... to direct our steps in peace,
to uphold us in peace, and to lead
us in life, joy and peace unto the
haven of our desire. Oh deliver
us from every enemy, ambush and
injury by the way, and from all
afflictions that visit and trouble
the world. Send a blessing upon
the work of our hands. Let us
obtain grace, lovingkindness, and
mercy in Thine eyes and in the eyes
of all who behold us.

2lON INT. INSIDE ROBERT'S COTTAGE, BATTICE - NIGHT

a Robert finishes the prayer.
 ROBERT (IN HEBWW)
Hear the voice of our
supplications. For Thou art a God
who hears prayers and
supplications. Blessed art Thou,
oh Lord, who hears all prayers.
Robert folds up the tallis, takes off the tefillin, puts them
away.

2100 INT. AVNER'S BEDROOM, FRANKFURT SAFE HOUSE - NIGHT 2100

Avner is undressing.
He sits on the bed. He reaches for the phone. Then he stops
himself. He fishes for a swiss army knife and opens the
screwdriver. With extreme care he lifts the phone, turns it
over, and delicately unscrews the bottom plate. It's a
normal phone. Without putting the plate back on, he dials 0 .
AVNER
I want to place a collect call to
Brooklyn New York, the number is
212-62,. .
He stops, then hangs up the phone. He pulls the guts out of
the phone, looking for something, a bug or a bomb.
He gets his gun from the holster and climbs into bed. He
switches off the light.
He lies still, staring into darkness. He listens to his own
breathing: shallow, panicked. He gets out of bed, checks the
door, the chair propped under the knob. He listens through
the door, his panic is building. He looks at the bed but
doesn't go towards it. He looks at the closet, the door
ajar. A moment's hesitation, then he steps inside the closet
and closes the door almost completely, leaving a crack for
air and sound.

210P INT. IN THE CLOSET - LATE NIGHT 210P

Avner curls up on the floor of the closet, leaning against an

ironing board, cradling the gun. He tries to calm down.

210Q INT* INSIDE THE COTTAGE - NIGHT 210Q

Robert has resumed packing. He picks up a toy ferris wheel
and winds it, sets it down and watches it spin around and
around. He turns back to the wires and bottles and bricks of
plastic explosives. He picks up a timer.
 The ferris wheel slows dowr,, then stops.

21OR EXT. THE SMALL STONE COTTAGE - NIGHT

An enormous explosion blows the cottage apart.

2105 INT. IN THE CLOSET - MORNING 210s

Avner's asleep. The phone in the bedroom is ringing. He
wakes up with a jolt, not knowing where he is. He tries to
stand and rams his head on the clothes pole above him.
Hangers rain down and the ironing board falls over.

210T INT. THE SAFE HOUSE, FRANKFURT - MORNING 210T

Avner stumbles out of the closet, freeing himself from the
debris. He lunges for the phone. He picks it up.
AVNER
What?

210V EXT. THE PICTURE GLASS WINDOW OF A KITCHEN DESIGN AND SUIEUW
STORE ON A FANCY STREET IN PARIS - NIGHT
Avner is standing in front of the display, which has been
changed -- a new but still beautiful modern kitchen. Behind
him, reflected in the glass, he sees Robert, walking-towards
him, smiling gently. They make eye contact through the
reflection. Robert seems to be standing right behind Avner.
He's asking Avner something, either moving his lips or it's
just a question in his eyes.
AVNER
It will be beautiful. Eventually
Avner places his hand over Robert's face. Then he turns
Louis is standing there.
Avner stares at Louis, hard. Louis takes a handkerchief out
of his pocket, then reaches past Avner to wipe away the
handprint that Avner's left on the plate glass window.
LOUIS
Ali Hassan Salameh is in Tarifa, on
the Spanish coast. He's in a
compound guarded by all the
predictable trouble.
 Avner d o e s n ' t respond, s t a r i n g a L o u i s a s i f n o t s e e i n g him.
LOUIS
Bomb makers o f t e n d i e a c c i d e n t a l
deaths.
( shrugs)
I n Athens, you s h o t a KGB a g e n t .
Many p e o p l e must want t o k i l l you,
Monsieur S t o r s c h . But why would I
do t h a t ? You pay b e t t e r t h a n
anyone.

A beat.

LOUIS (CONT'D)
I t ' s dangerous, going a f t e r
Salameh. But he planned t h e Munich
massacre. E l i m i n a t e him and t h e y ' l l
l e t you go home. Don't you t h i n k ?

They l o o k a t one a n o t h e r .

AVNER
Y e s , Louis. I do.

They s m i l e a t one a n o t h e r , n o t f r i e n d l y , b u t , Avner h a v i n g

acknowledged h i s a f f i l i a t i o n , both know t h a t t h i s i s t h e end
of t h e i r b u s i n e s s t o g e t h e r .
LOUIS
You c o u l d have a k i t c h e n l i k e t h i s
someday. I t c o s t s d e a r l y . Home
always does.

211-223 OMITTED 211-223

224 OMITTED 224

225-233 OMITTED 225-233

234 EXT. THE TERRACE OF A GFG3AT MANSION ON THE COAST NEAR TARPEPP,
SPAIN - EARLIER THAT NIGHT
Avner and S t e v e , i n b l a c k c l o t h i n g , f a c e s grimed f o r
camouflage, a r e crawling through t h e trimmed g r a s s of a lawn,
i n t h e deep shadow of a garden w a l l , towards a g r e a t h o u s e ,
s e v e r a l of t h e windows of which a r e lit. S l u n g a c r o s s t h e i r
backs, S t e v e and Avner c a r r y high-powered r i f l e s .
e 234A EXT. THE: LAWN OF TKE MANSION -- NIGHT
The house in nearer. Egyptian music can be heard.
Still lying flat in the grass, Steve's looking through night
vision binoculars at large glass doors through which a vast
library can be seen.
STEVE
Shit.
It's like a fucking fun house.
He hands the binoculars to Avner, lying beside him. Avner
looks.
Avner stops, looks through the binoculars at the large glass
doors of the room next to the library.

235 IN THE BINOCULARS: 235

The panels of glass in the exterior doors of the room are
clear, smoke and amber, thick, wavy, bevelled. The room
within is panelled with mkrors.set at odd angles, and
mirrored doors that swing open and close, catching and losing
reflections. A row of big crystal chandeliers down the length
of the room add myriad prismatic lights to the confusion.
A number of Arab men, perhaps as many as twenty, are moving
large wooden boxes around. They're rendered cubist fragments
by the distortions of the glass, the lights and the mirrors.
234A CUT BACK T&34A
Avner and Steve in the dark outside.
STEVE
Can you tell how many?

235 IN THE BINOCULARS: 235

Avner's moving the binoculars methodically back and forth,
scanning the faces in the library. Suddenly he sees someone,
only for an instant, who might be Salameh. Then he's gone.
234A CUT BACK T&34A
Steve and Avner.
A W R
That's him. He's in there.
235 IN THE BINOCULARS:
Avner focuses the binoculars on the library again. He
immediately zooms in on the back of the head of a man,
standing near a series of mirrored doors. The man turns.
It's definitely Salameh. He's talking to someone, smoking a
cigarette.
Avner's focusing the glasses, bringing Salameh nearer. The
sounds of the night intensify, the music, Arabic conversation
from the house, crickets, the distant surf and Avner's own
breathing.
Salameh suddenly stops talking, takes a deep drag on his
cigarette -- and then he seems to look straight out the
french doors of the library, out through their panes of
distorting colored glass, out into the dark, as if seeking
out and then locking directly with Avner's gaze.
One of the mirrored doors behind Salameh opens, then another,
then another, and all at once the face in the binoculars is
repeated, over and over, full face, profile, rear view,
staring hard at something -- it seems to be Avner -- with a
strange expression: familiarity, hatred, taunting.
CUT BACK TOP36
STEVE
Too many men. We're gonna get
killed.
They hear a sound of someone walking on gravel coming from
the garden behind them. They go completely flat and roll
deeper into the shadows. Avner leaves the binoculars on the
grass. They unsling their rifles and release the safeties.
A man is standing with his back to them, taking a leak. He
has a kalashnikov slung across his back.
Avner sees the binoculars in the verge of the terrace. He
taps Steve, and points.
Steve mouths a silent "shit" then starts to inch towards the
binoculars. The peeing man is finished, he's zipping up his
fly. Steve's elbow snaps something dry in the grass.
The man wheels around. It's a teenage boy, fourteen or
fifteen years old. The boy sees Avner and Steve. He starts
to fumble for his kalashnikov. Steve is already on his feet,
taking aim, Avner close behind him.
 Sr-eve fires, then Avner, one bullet knocking the kid off his
feet, the other hitting him in the eye, making his head
explode. His body topples back into the bushes.
Avner and Steve hear shouts coming from inside the house.
Someone in the dining room flings the door opens and calls
out something in Arabic. They crouch, edging back into the
shadows. Suddenly there's a burst of machine-gun fire,
sending stone and gravel and dirt flying.
Steve starts to run back towards the shore. Avner catches
his a-m, spins him around and drags him in the opposite
direction. Avner runs in this direction, and Steve follows.
As they approach the main gates Avner trips, stumbles,
cutting his face. He sits there, stunned. Steve hauls him to
his feet and they resume their run to the gate.
Avner fires at the center of the locked gate while Steve
turns and fires several rounds into the blackness behind
them.
AVNER
GO !
Both men run at the two halves and crash m t o them. The
gates burst open, and Avner and Steve run pell-mell down the
drlve. Noises of pursuit, runnlng, shoutmg, from wlthm the
compound grow closer. There's a burst of gunf~renearby.
Avner and Steve run down the road at top speed.
No one is pursuing. They keep running.

Avner runs, as we'd seen him at the start of the sequence:

face blacked, bloody cut, sweat, terror. He plunges into the
grass field. He runs through the grass.
He throws his rifle away into the grass and runs.
His speed accelerates. He runs till the world falls away. It
is no longer clear where he is.
The camera closes in on Avner's eyes.

250 EXT. THE RUNWAY AT LOD AIRPORT, TEL AVIV - DAY 250
Passengers are descending from an El A1 plane. Avner is
among them. A military jeep, no roof, is waitinq. Two vounq
soidiers are sitting on the hood. Avner approaches, lobking
like he expects to be arrested.
 AVNER
I'm --
ONE OF THE SOLDIERS
We know. You want to ride with us?
THE OTHER SOLDIER
Hop in.
As they get in the jeep, the two soldier in front, Avner in
back, one of the soldiers turns to him.
THE SOLDIER
I'm Yehuda, this is Avi. Shin
Beit. We're not supposed to know
who you are, because we're not
officers, we're just shit and no
one tell us shit, but we've heard
about what you've done, and we want
to say it's an honor to meet you.
Yehuda turns back and starts the jeep. Avner, though he's
not showing much, is stunned.

a
251 OMIT

25lA OMITTED

252 OMIT 252

252A INT. ROOM 27-5-H, MOSSAD HEADQUARTERS, TEL AVIV - DAY 252A
The same room in which Avner first signed for the mission.
Nothing has changed. Avner is seated, thinking, waiting.
A man in civilian clothes walks in, carrying a large tape
recorder, microphone, and loops of cable. He smiles at Avner,
puts the equipment on the desk, and starts assembling it,
whistling through his teeth.
Avner watches this. When the man is done he leaves with a
friendly nod to Avner.
Ephraim comes in.
EPHRAIN
I have no problems with anything
you guys did except the woman on
the houseboat in Hoorn.
Avner is surprised.
EPIiRAIM ( CONT ' D)
Steve's told us about her.
AVNER
We took leaves of absence and
killed her off the company clock.
EPHRAIM
Don't be an idiot.
Otherwise as I said we have no
problems with the job you did.
AVNER
Except three of my men died.
Ephraim nods
EPHRAIM
According to your colleague, I
should say emphatically according
to your colleague, not m any way
your fault. He srngs your prases.
Best guy he evzx worked for and so
on.
AVNER
Huh.
Steve's not bad either.
EPHRAlM
He says this French group -- Louis?
Was his name? -- they sold the
terrorists information regarding
your whereabouts. They helped kill
your men.
AVNER
Bullshit.
EPHRAIM
Tell us who they are.
AVNER
They won't work with you. I can't
It's about loyalty.
EPHRAIM
You're an Israeli officer. That's
your only loyalty. That's it.
Avner doesn't respond.
 EPHRAIM (CONT'D)
OK, so --
The door o p e n s . G e n e r a l Y i t z h a k Hofi e n t e r s , two a i d e s
b e h i n d him. Avner s t a n d s , one of t h e a i d e s c l o s e s t h e d o o r .
EPHRAIM ( CONT ' D )
T h i s i s General Hofi of t h e
Northern Command.
GENERAL HOFI
L i s t e n , t h e Prime M i n i s t e r i s proud
of you and your men. She wishes
s h e could t e l l you h e r s e l f , b u t s h e
c a n ' t . She n e v e r h e a r d o f you,
right?
Avner nods.
GENERAL HOFI (CONT'D)
Good. She s a y s y o u ' v e done a g r e a t
t h i n g f o r your p e o p l e . For I s r a e l .
H o f i embraces Avner, k i s s i n g b o t h cheeks. Then he t u r n s t o
go. H e s t o p s a t t h e door and l o o k s back a t - A v n e r .
GENERAL HOFI
T h a t ' s it. T h e r e ' s n o medal o r
anything.
He l a u g h s p l e a s a n t l y , t h e n l e a v e s .
Ephraim s i t s down a t t h e t a p e r e c o r d e r . H e t u r n s it on

EPHFAIM
( i n t o t h e mic:)
Testing, t e s t i n g ...
He rewinds, pushes p l a y . L i s t e n s t o himself s a y i n g " t e s t i n g ,
t e s t i n g . " Then he s w i t c h e s t h e machine back t o r e c o r d .
EPHRAIM (CONT'D)
June 1 6 , 1 9 7 3 .
Avner Kauf fman .
Interview.
( t o Avner:)
Go ahead.
AVNER
What?
EPHRAIM
T e l l me what you l e a r n e d .
 AVNER
What I learned?
EPHIiAIM
Yes. What did you learn?
Avner stares ahead, not at Ephraim. A weight descends on
him, sadness, remembering. Ephraim watches, impatient.
EPHRAIM
Oh for godsake.
Tell me the names and numbers of
your sources.
Avner looks down, not answering.
EPHRAIM
I can have you court-martialed.
And I might.
Avner shakes his head "no."
AVNER
You can't. I don't work for you.
(meaning it:)
I don't exist.

253 OMITTED 253

253s. INT. AVNER'S MOTHER'S APARTMENT, TEL AVIV - DAY 253A

She lives alone. It's a small, very modest apartment. She's
serving Avner tea. He looks terrible.
Avner looks at the only two pictures on the wall: a photo of
his father, and a photo of Avner. Both men are in uniform.
AVNER
You're divorced. Why do you keep
his picture on the wall?
AVNER'S MOTHER
Don't be ridiculous.
Did you visit him?
Avner looks away.
AVNER'S MOTHER
Yon look terrible.
Avner won't look at her.
 AVNER
I'm... I'm not good right now, and
I don't want to see him.
She nods her head.
AVNER'S MOTHER
I don't need you to tell me
anything. It's taken a lot from
you.
AVNER
I'm alive. Right? The rest of
it ... sorts itself out.
AVNER'S MOTHER
I'm not a fool, Avner.
AVNER
I never said you were a --
AVNER'S MOTHER
Some bonds you can't break. Ever.
You are who you belong to.
. .~
They sit, not looking at one another.
AVNER'S MOTHER
Everyone in Europe died. Most of
my family.
(a gesture as if something
vanished in the air)
Pffft!
I never talked to you about it.
AVNER
I knew.
AVNER'S MOTHER
You knew. So what was there to
say? I didn't die because I came
here.
When I arrived, I walked to the top
of a hill in Jerusalem and I prayed
for a child.
I never prayed before, but I prayed
then. And I could feel all of them
were praying with me.
She looks at him sadly, with ferocious love.
AVNER'S MOTHER
You're what we prayed for.
What you did, you did for us.
(MORE)
 AVNER'S MOTHER (cont'd)
For your daughrer but also for us.
Every one of the ones who died --
died wanting this.
(she gestures to the space
around her.)
What we've had to take because no
one will ever give us. A place to
be a Jew among Jews. Subject to no
one.
I thank God for hearing my prayer.
Avner looks at her, finally.
AVNER
Do you want me to tell you, mama?
Do you want to know what I did?
They look at each other for a beat.
AVNER'S MOTHER
What's there to say? Whatever it
took, whatever it takes.
A place on earth. We have a place
on earth. At last.

254 EXT- IN FRONT OF LOD AIRPORT - EARLY MORNING 254

Ephraim is dropping Avner off. Ephraim looks angry.
Avner takes a small white cardboard box from his knapsack and
holds it out to Ephraim. Ephraim doesn't take it.
EPHRAIM
What is it?
AVNER
Baklava.
Ephraim takes the box, examines the bakery's sticker affixed
to the top.
EPHRAIM
(with disdain:)
From Rehovot? The only edible
baklava is from the Arabs in Jaffa.
He hands it back to Avner.
EPHRAIM (CONT'D)
Eat it on the plane. You're too
thin.
(angry)
I hope it gives you bellyache.
Listen, forget it.
(MORE)
 EPHRAIM (CONT'D)
You go see your wife, your child,
rest for a few more months. We're
going to put you back in the field.
Avner doesn't respond.
EPHRAIM (CONT'D)
Not Europe. Probably Latin
America.
A W R
NO.
EPHRAIM
You'll think it over.
AVNER
I won't. No.
EPHRAIM
OK, then you'll come back and --
Avner picks up his suitcase, heads for the plane. Ephraim
watches him go.
As Avner enters the airport, he runs into a large crowd of
Palestinian children, 30 or more kids, boys and girls ranging
in age from ten to thirteen, pourmg out of the airport. The
kids are all in colored t-shirts that say, in Arabic script,
"Kashefat Madressat Yaffa" with the same script and the
Arabic letter "aleph" on armband on the left sleeve --
they're in a kind of summer camp program ,returning from a
field trip visit to the airport. They surround Avner as they
exit, momentarily slowing his progress inside. The kids are
chaperoned by three young women, their teachers, two in
modern dress, one in a head scarf and traditional dress.
Everyone's talking loudly, talking loudly and excitedly in
Arabic.
Avner turns briefly to look at the kids. Ephraim has gone.

254 OMITTED 254

255 OMITTED 255

256 OMITTED 256

* 256A

256
OMITTED

OMITTED
256A
257 OMITTED

258 OMITTED 258

237 EXT. ON CLINTON STREET, CARROLL GmDENS, BROOKLYN - DAY 237

Chilly very early spring. Daphna is on the stoop, chatting
with an old Italian lady who's leaning out of her first story
window; Geula is sitting on Daphna's lap, chewing on a
stuffed animal.
Avner's standing there, on the sidewalk, carrying a suitcase,
looking at her. The cut in his cheek is still vivid. He's
disheveled, he looks lost, deadly exhausted.
Daphna sees him, stands up, completely shocked. She sways a
little. He's frozen, shy, uncertain, suddenly frightened to
be here. Geula starts crying, scared.

238 INT. THE BROOKLYN APARTTENT - LATE NIGHT 238

Daphna comes out of the bedroom, looking for Avner. She goes
into the living room. He's sitting on the window seat,
looking out at the street, up and down, vigilant. Charlie
sits nearby.
Daphna sees that Avner's jannned a chair under the doorknob.
He turns and looks at her.
DAPHNA
Nightmares?
AVNER
Yes.
Yes.
(shakes his head,
confused, laughs a
little:)
I have no idea where I should be.
(He looks around the
room: )
It's a nice place. You've made
it... nice.
DAPWNA
Come back to bed.
 She goes back to the bedroom. She hasn't seen that Avner is
holding his gun. He watches her go in, then he turns back to
his vigil. His left hand is clenching, hyperflexinq.

259 EXT. IN FRONT OF THE BROOKLYN =ARTMENT, CLINTON STREET -259

LATE AFTERNOON
It's full summer, blast furnace heat, kids playing in open
hydrants, very green, very humid.
Avner is walking to his house. He looks heavier, healthier
His face in repose is still very, very sad, but years have
lifted off it. He's dressed in paint-spattered, plastes-
spattered work clothes, coming off a job in small
construction.
He passes a car in a row of cars parked on the street.
Someone's in the car but he doesn't notice it. When he's
gone several feet past the car, however, something bothers
him and he looks back. There's a man inside who might be
looking back at Avner. The car pulls out and drives off down
Clinton street. There's no license plate.

249 OMITTED

260 OMITTED 260

261 OMITTED 261

262 OMITTED 262

263 EXT. A PAYPHONE NEAR AVNER'S COBBLE HILL JOBSITE - DAY 263
Avner is at a payphone, dressed in his dusty construction
clothes.
AVNER
Sylvie? I want to talk to your
father.
Silence.
AVNER (CONT'D)
Is Louis there?
SYLVIE (V.O. )
No, he ...
 A W R
I want to talk to your father
He reads from the phone dial.
AVNER ( CONT ' D )
212-624-7880.
I'll wait. He must call. 1'11
wait.

264 EXT. THE PAYPHONE NEAR THE COBBLE HILL JOBSITE - DAY 264

Almost an hour later. Avner is waiting. The phone rings.

AVNER
Am I being hunted? Is my family
being hunted?

265 INT. THE FARMHOUSE, THE FRENCH ALPS - NIGHT 265

Papa is pitting prunes, phone propped against a shoulder,

alone.
PAPA
How is your father? He's well?
Your family is well?

266 EXT. THE PAYPHONE NEAR THE COBBLE HILL JOBSITE - DAY 266

Avner is silent.
AVNER
I don't know. How's my family? Are
they well? Are they going to be OK?

267 INT. THE FARMHOUSE, THE FRENCH ALPS - NIGHT

PAPA
I'm sending you a parcel of sausage
and cheese. Real cheese, the kind
you can't get in America -- it
isn ' t "pasteurized," so it doesn ' t
taste like shit.
It's a pleasure to hear your voice
again, I think about you, with
concern. Do you believe me?
268 EXT. PAYPHONE NEAR THE COBBLE HIT& JOBSITE - DAY
Avner is silent, he doesn't know what to say.
PAPA (V.O.)
Avner ?
You believe me, Avner?
Avner is startled.
AVNER
You know my name.
PAPA (V.O.)
Of course I do.
Listen to me, it's important. No
harm will come to you from me.
Avner. I will never lie to you.
Papa hangs up.
Avner puts the receiver back in place. He leaves the phone
booth. Slowly he shakes his head, "no," reaching a hard
decision.

269 EXT. THE ISRAELI CONSULATE, MANHATTAN - DAY

Establishing shot. Avner, still dressed in his construction
clothes, enters the consulate.

270 INT. THE OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY CONSUL, THE ISRAELI CONSULA~WP
MANHATTAN - DAY
The deputy consul, a young Israeli, is sitting behind his
desk. Avner enters abruptly without knocking.
AVNER
If you're Mossad, you know who I
am. If you don't, tell Ephraim that
Avner came to see you.
The deputy consul rises. A secretary tries to come in the
office. Avner shoves her out, slams the door and wheels on
the frightened deputy consul who sits down again.
AVNER
Tell Ephraim I won't hesitate to
kill other people's chiidren if my
child is hurt. Or wives if you
hurt my wife. Or fathers if you
hurt my father.
(MORE
 AVNER (cont'd)
Word for word, tell Ephraim. I'll
give everything to the newspapers.
Who was at every meeting. Every
bloody name. If anyone bothers us
aqain .
The door behind Avner is forced open by armed embassy guards.
They grab Avner, who doesn't resist.

239 INT. AVNER AND DAPHNA'S BEDROOM, BROOKLYN - LATE NIGHT 239
Daphna is asleep. Avner comes in. He gets into bed. He
lies there, staring into the dark. He's crying silently.
Daphna wakes up, looks at him; she reaches over to him,
touches his face; he turns away from her. She moves over to
him, holding him. She kisses him tenderly, consoling. The
kiss is returned, becomes sexual. They start to make love,
gently, uncertainly, then building in intensity and passion.

239A EXT. THE AIR OVER FURSTENFELDBRUCK AIRPORT - NIGHT 239A

A confused fragment of helicopter blades, tail-lights, a loud
burst of noise.

2391111 INT. AVNER AND DAPUNArS BEDROOM. BROOKLYN - NIGHT 2391111

Avner stops making love to his wife. She draws him back into
it.

The helicopters are landing on the tarmac of the airport. An

727 jet stands ready, ostensibly to take the fedayeen and
their hostages to Cairo. Apart from a few spotlights, the
airport and the runway are dark.
The helicopters land. The door of one of the helicopters (D-
HAQU) opens, and Issa, Samir, Kader and Salah emerge, rifles
ready, crouching.
Tony and Abu-Halah emerge from the second helicopter (D-
HAQO). Issa and Tony move with great caution, away from the
helicopter and towards the jet.
Tony and Isaa approach the jet. They stop, frozen for a
moment. They can see that the plane is dark and there's no
one in the pilot's cabin. They suspect a trick. Issa and
Tony turn back toward the helicopter. They begin to shout at
their comrades back at the helicopters.
 Flood lights atop the building and all around the field burst
on, lighting up the runway.
Then from the runway's periphery, hidden snipers start
firing. Abu-Halah and Salah are gunned down jlmnediately.
Paulo, Badran and Samir return fire. Bullets are being fired
in all directions. Sniper fire hits Tony in the leg. There's
shouting and screaming. Issa runs hiding behind a heiicopter
(0-HAQO).
241 INT. AVNER AND DAPHNA'S BEDROOM, BROOKLYN - LATE NIGHT 241
Avner and Daphna continue to make love, but something
changes. Avner grows silent, strangely concentrated -- he's
trying to block out images inside his head. His lovemaking
becomes rough, angry. He starts fucking her, furiously.
Daphna is crying.

242 EXT. FURSTENFELDBRUCK AIRPORT RUNWAY - NIGHT (TOKOL AIRFI-)

Amidst the firefight, armored cars are slowly making their
way towards the helicopters on the runway. Behind the
armored cars are many soldiers and policemen. The fedayeen
and the snipers are still firing. Soldiers begin firing as
well.
Issa climbs into helicopter (D-HAQO) and sprays machine gun
fire into Friedman, Halfin and Springer, killing them and
injuring Berger in the leg. Issa then leaps from the
helicopter, pulls the pin of a grenade and throws it inside.
It explodes.
Kader is spraying the other helicopter (D-HAQU) with machine
gun fire.

243 INT. AVNER AND DAPHNA'S BEDROOM, BROOKLYN - LATE NIGHT 243
Avner is still on top of Daphna, fucking her. His eyes are
screwed shut, he's growling, his face is contorted with hate,
he's trying to hurt her. She's crying and scared but not
stopping him. The baby, in a crib nearby, starts to cry.

244 INT. ABOARD A HELICOPTER ON THE RUNWAY - NIGHT (TOKOL 244

AIRFIELD )
The helicopter is bursting into flames. The captive men
inside are engulfed in flame,
0 245 INT. ABOARD THE SECOND HELICOPTER ON TEE RUNWAY - NIGHT 245
( TOKOL AIRFIELD)

Kader's machine gun spray is ripping the cabin apart,

striking the bodies of the helpless athletes (Guttfreund,
Schorr, Slavin, Spitzer and Shapira), ripping them apart --
carnage.
WIDE SHOT OF AFTERMATH: The two helicopters in flames, the
dark plane, bodies on the ground, smoke hanging over
everything, men emerging from the shadows on the periphery
into the floodlit devastation, the sirens flashing but
everything completely silent.

246 OMITTED 246

247 INT. AVNER AND DAPHNA'S BEDROOM, BROOKLYN - LATE NIGHT 247
Daphna pushes Avner off her, violently. They both lie,
panting, terrified.
He sits up, facing away from her. He reaches back to touch
her. She flinches away, holding herself.

248 EXT. THE BACKYARD OF DAPHNA'S AND AVNER'S APARTMENT BUILD-,

BROOKLYN - DAY
It's summer now, the weed growth is rampant. Avner is piling
a wheelbarrow with all sorts of junk, waving Charlie away.
He's still thin, still exhausted, frowning. The cut .on his
cheek is now healed.
Daphna calls from their rear window:
DAPHNA (V.O.)
Phone for you!
He ' s Israeli.

27 1 OMITTED 271

272 EXT- A PARK ON THE BROOKLYN WATERFRONT - DAY 272

EphraiYn and Avner are walking past an overgrown park on the
Brooklyn waterfront, There's an abandoned jungle gym at one
end of the park.
EPHRAIM
You think we'd hurt your family?
 AVNER
I think anyone is capable of
anything.
EPKI?AIM
I think you're losing your mind.
AVNER
Did I commit murder?
They stop walking. Ephraim looks out over the East River.
AVNER
I want you to give me proof that
every man we killed had a hand in
Munich.
EPHRAIM
I don't discuss such things with
people who don't exist. You want
to discuss, come back to existence.
You want your daughter to grow up
in exile?
AVNER
I want evidence.
EPHRAIM
Professor Hamshari with the
beautiful wife and child? He was
implicated in a failed
assassination attempt on Ben
Gurion, he was recruiting for Fatah
France, enlisting sympathetic non-
Arab fanatics eager to destroy the
international Zionist conspiracy.
You stopped him.
AVNER
We should have tried to bring him
to Israel.
EPHRAIM
And Zwaiter, your harmless little
writer in Rome? He was behind the
bomb on El A1 flight 76 in 1968, he
worked on another bomb last August.
I can go with this.
AVNER
According to evidence no one has
seen,
(MORE)
 AVNER (cont'd)
If they committed crimes we should
have arrested them, like Eichmann.
EPHRAIM
~f these guys live, Israelis die.
Whatever doubts you have, Avner,
you know this is true.
We are telling them: if you kill us
you will never be safe. We'll find
you.
(beat)
you did well, but you're unhappy.
AVNER
I killed seven men.
EPHRAIM
Not salameh.
AVNER
Fuck you.
EPHRAIM
We'll get him, of course. You think
you were the only team? It's a big
operation. You were only a part.
Does that assuage your guilt?
AVNER
I don't even know anymore what I
want from you. Did we accomplish
anything at all? Every man we
killed has been replaced by worse.
EPHRAIM
Why cut my fingernails they'll grow
back.
AVNER
Did we kill them to destroy the
terrorist leadership or the
Palestinian leadership? Tell me
what we've done.
EPHRAIM
You killed them for the sake of a
country you now choose to abandon.
The country your mother and father
built. That you were born into.
You killed them for Munich, For
the future. For peace. If you
killed them. If I know you. if
we have met before, which we have
not.
(MORE
 EPHRAIM (cont'd)
If you signed a paper, which you
have, saying you have no connection
with us, with Israel, or any
connection with anyone anywhere,
anywhere on earth, Avner Kauffman,
and you have no context.
No wonder you're unhappy. I'm
unhappy just looking at you.
AVNER
There's no peace at the end of
this.
Whatever you believe, you know
that's true.
EPHRAIM
Here's what I know:
Your father's sick. Your mother
will be alone. You're a sabra,
your wife and daughter are sabras.
What I came to say is this. Come
home.
Silence.
AVNER
NO.
Ephraim looks down, then nods.
AVNER
Come to my house for dinner
tonight.
A beat. Ephraim doesn't respond.
AVNER (CONT'D)
Come on. You're a Jew. You're a
stranger. It's written someplace
or other, I'm supposed to ask you
to break bread.
Break bread with me Ephraim.
Ephraim shakes his head, sad.
EPHRAIM
NO.
Ephraim walks away. Avner watches him go
END TITLES OVER IMAGE:
ULTIMATELY, NINE OF THE ELEVEN PALESTINIAN MEN TARGETED FOR
ASSASSINATION WERE KILLED, INCLUDING ALI HASSAN SALAMEH IN
1979.
END OF FILM